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QNA
Brussels
National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) chairman has urged the European Union to take strong and swift measures to end the human rights violations perpetrated by the countries imposing an unjust siege on Qatar.
Dr Ali bin Smaikh al Marri called on the EU to make practical steps to end the violations that affect thousands of Gulf families.
At a meeting with EU's Special Representative for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis in Belgian capital Brussels, Dr Marri presented a copy of the fifth report prepared by the NHRC.
He said after more than a year's siege, citizens and residents of Qatar can no longer rest content with the political positions of some countries that only make"verbal condemnation" of the violations, without following them up with practical and deterrent measures that would establish the sanctity of over human rights above political interests.
Marri called on the EU countries to give priority to human rights in their engagements with the countries of the blockade.
He reminded the special representative that the victims of the blockade are citizens and residents of Qatar and they were waiting for more effective and strong positions to be taken to stop violations.
"The EU countries have procedures and mechanisms that enable them to put pressure on the blockading countries and stop their violations, in line with the principles on which the EU institutions were founded," Marri said.
The NHRC chief invited the Lambrinidis to visit Qatar and the others countries in the region to understand the plight of the unjust siege's victims and said the visit would go a long way in resolving the humanitarian crisis.
In his meeting with Chiara Adamo, the head of the Unit for Gender Equality, Human Rights and Democratic Governance of the Department of International Cooperation and Development of the European Union, Marri highlighted the disastrous humanitarian impact of the siege on children, He said thousands of Qatari, Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini children were affected as their mixed families were ripped apart because of the siege.
The blockading countries expelled Qatari citizens from their territories and prevented their children born in those countries from travelling to meet their Qatari mothers or fathers, he added.
In his meetings in Brussels, the NHRC chief said that the silence of countries on the continuation of the siege imposed on Qatar for more than a year is no longer acceptable.
