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Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has received more than 400 written complaints from Qatari citizens as well as citizens of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain who reported being severely affected by the decision of these countries to cut ties and shut the borders with Qatar.
The NHRC Chairman Dr Ali bin Smaikh al Marri said it was alarmed over the"violation of human rights".
"An estimated 11,387 people, including Qataris and Saudi, Emarati and Bahraini nationals residing in Qatar, are directly affected by the embargo." Marri estimated that 8,254 Saudi, 784 Emirati, and 2,349 Bharani citizens live in Qatar.
"All of them will be forced to leave their jobs or face punishment and legal consequences by their governments,"he said."These steps were clear and blatant violations of human rights that impacted people's freedom of movement, freedom to work, access to health and the right to property," Marri said.
œThe NHRC has prepared an evidence-based dossier in this respect that has clearly documented these violations and will be submitted to the concerned bodies of the United Nations and International Organisations for their necessary action against those involved in such serious international crimes. ?
A delegation from the NHRC will visit several international human rights organisations in European capitals to address the serious human rights violations against Qatari and non-Qatari citizens, where a detailed report on the cases observed will be delivered to them.
Marri also met a delegation of the Amnesty International and informed them about the complaints and cases of violations received by the committee.
Marri said, œMost of the complaints received by the committee are related to civil, economic, social and cultural violations resulting from banning of citizens from travel, forced deportation of families and depriving children of their mothers and fathers. ?
œThere are instances of Qatari nationals whose businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are affected due to the crisis. They are forced to leave their jobs and businesses and return to Qatar. Some complaints also involved forcing Qatari students to leave immediately and hence they are not being allowed to complete the final semester exams. ?
Families are now broken by asking members to leave the country for no fault of theirs except that they are Qatari citizens. Medical treatments have been affected and non-Qatari patients are asked to leave Qatar and return to their home countries otherwise.
In addition, there are many Saudi and Emirati citizens who, for fear of harsh punishment by their own government, are shying away from either contacting NHRC or revealing their identity. They are warned of serious penalties or imprisonment if not returned to their countries.
