An independent expert mandated by the United Nations said she was gravely concerned about the lack of evidence to legitimize the imposition of unilateral sanctions against Qatar by a coalition of four Arab countries. In a preliminary report published on Thursday, the UN special rapporteur in charge of assessing the negative impact of the blockade of Qatar on human rights calls for the "immediate withdrawal" of all sanctions and measures decided in June 2017 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt against the small emirate of the Persian Gulf. Most of these, she believes, aim to "restrict freedom of expression, movement, access to property ... in violation of international legal standards".

The Special Rapporteur, Alena Douhan, echoes other calls made during the UN special procedures for the four States to review the definition of terrorism and the financing of terrorism in their legislation in order to bring it into line with international human rights standards. It also calls for those States to refrain from resorting to counter-terrorism and other forms of national security legislation to stifle peaceful and non-violent laws.

Special procedure

Since June 5 , 2017, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Manama and Cairo have kept Qatar under a total economic blockade and no longer maintain diplomatic relations with it. These four countries (nicknamed the Arab Quartet) accuse Qatar of supporting extremist groups in the region and of having too close relations with Shiite Iran, Riyadh's great regional rival. The Quartet has made thirteen demands to Qatar for its sanctions lifted, including the closure of the Al Jazeera network and other media outlets, the severance of relations with Iran and the end of military cooperation with Turkey. According to the report, these measures constitute violations of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and of the principle of State sovereignty.

The blockade of Qatar is the subject of a "special procedure" of the UNITED Nations Human Rights Council on the negative impact of the coercive measures that constitute it. These "encroach on fundamental freedoms", the Special Rapporteur stresses following a twelve-day visit to Qatar. In particular, they deprive the inhabitants of the Emirate of the right to travel to the countries at the origin of this blockade, to the detriment of relations within families, many of which are binational.

Persistent and systematic violations

The rapporteur is concerned about the numerous substantiated reports on these unilateral measures, which tend to discriminate against Qataris on the basis of their national identity. This may amount to constituting "a model of persistent and systematic violations of human rights". The report cites the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms such as the right to family life, education, work, health and the exercise of religious freedom.

The Special Rapporteur also welcomes Qatar's recent progress in improving its national legislation and counter-terrorism efforts. In this regard, it cites Qatar's participation in the global fight in this area, including through the procedures of the Group d'action financière (Gafi) and the provision of its Al Udeid air base, the bridgehead of the international military coalition against Daesh. Doha is also a party to fifteen multilateral agreements related to security and counter-terrorism.