Qatar: Accession to CEDAW a positive development for human rights

His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Smaikh al-Merri , Chairman of the National Committee for Human Rights, has stressed that Qatar's accession to the UN convention on ending discrimination against women is a positive development in the field of human rights.

It is a culmination of efforts to protect the rights of women, as well as a great achievement to give women more rights of care and support, he said, noting that the State of Qatar has made great strides with regard to the rights of women being the first Arab Gulf state to grant women political rights.

He also said in an interview with Qatar's leading newspaper ‘Al-Rayah’ that, in view of the terms of the agreement it was found that there was no conflict with national legislation already in place to protect women's rights and defend them, adding that accession to the Convention will in fact further strengthen the process of twinning local legislation with international conventions.

His Excellency added that accession to the Convention obliges Qatar to submit periodic reports on measures taken by the legislative, judicial, executive bodies in this regard-a process, which H.E. went on to say, will in turn promote actions to activate and implement the provisions of the Convention.

In this context, H.E. also pointed out that the Committee on Ending Discrimination against Women shall take into account the provisions of the Convention adding that NHRC will have a major role in the preparation of these reports.

The international convention on Ending Discrimination against women, H.E. added, obliges signatories to take all appropriate measures to end bias or social habits directed towards injuring or harming the dignity of women.

It has meanwhile been noted by the press in Doha that regional and world rights groups have praised the Emiri decision to accede to the International Convention on Ending Discrimination against Women which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1979, and ratified by a large number of States and eventually went into force in September 1981.

Date: 2 April 2009

Source: NHRC website