The State of Qatar and the United Nations


    In the spirit of its belief in the importance of the strategic partnership with the United Nations, the State of Qatar is keen to contribute actively to the efforts by the international community to maintain international peace and security, support the development process, without which the desired goals of the United Nations would not be achieved, in addition to the promotion of human rights, humanitarian assistance, and participation in collective action to address existing and emerging challenges facing the world. The State of Qatar is omnipresent in most of the United Nations activities and in regional and international groups working on finding solutions to regional and international crises, conflict prevention, peacekeeping and post-conflict peace-building. It is one of the troop-contributing countries participating in the United Nations peacekeeping missions. As a contribution by the State of Qatar to regional and international efforts, Doha has hosted conferences, meetings and workshops on the promotion of international peace and security, development, democracy, human rights and the culture of peace.

The State of Qatar has been actively involved in the following main areas at the international level:

Mediation

In view of the importance given by its foreign policy to the peaceful settlement of conflicts in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the State of Qatar has focused on mediation as a means for conflict resolution. The Qatari diplomacy achieved many successes in countries that witnessed internal or international conflicts. The State of Qatar believes that mediation is the optimal solution to avoid conflicts and avert the growing number of victims and increasing human, economic and development costs resulting from them. The State of Qatar has therefore played an active role to promote mediation, in coordination and cooperation with the Security Council and the General Assembly and by engaging with the Group of Friends of Mediation. The State of Qatar has also been a fair and honest broker, which helped in the success of its efforts in many crises including, but not limited to, the question of Darfur, and the mediation between Djibouti and Eritrea.  

Interfaith Dialogue and the Alliance of Civilizations

The State of Qatar considers dialogue among religions and civilizations an indispensable mechanism to build bridges of communication between societies and peoples, and as a means to get to know others, express mutual respect and achieve stabilization. In view of the numerous challenges in today’s world that threaten global peace and coexistence, the growing manifestations of intolerance and hatred, and the spread of violent conflicts and extremism, the State of Qatar has strongly supported the initiative of creating the Alliance of Civilizations, that is today playing an active role in promoting a culture of peace. The Government has spared no effort to bolster the capability of the Alliance to carry out its message, and has continued to provide it with all kinds of support. It has also hosted the Fourth Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations in Doha in December 2011.

Since the State of Qatar is keen to establish world peace on strong foundations, promote dialogue among religions, and fight discrimination based on religion or belief, the State established the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, which seeks to promote the culture of dialogue, foster a culture of acceptance of others and peaceful coexistence among followers of different religions and members of different civilizations. The State of Qatar hosts each year the Doha International Conference on Interfaith Dialogue, with the participation of intellectuals, scholars and representatives of different religions, coming from various parts of the world. It is also proud to be the host of more than one million people from different countries and regions that have different religions and cultures, who coexist in harmony while keeping their individual cultural identity or privacy, and contributing to the process of development to which the State of Qatar attaches a high priority.

Human rights

The promotion and protection of human rights constitute a main pillar of the State of Qatar’s policy and a strategic choice underpinning the process of comprehensive reform implemented by the State. This approach has been highlighted in the comprehensive vision of development known as “Qatar National Vision 2030” that includes important sections dealing with key human rights issues in the areas of education, health, the environment, labour rights, empowerment of women and the rights of the child, as well as in the national development strategy and in strengthening relevant national institutions including the National Human Rights Committee.

In this perspective, believing in the important role of the Human Rights Council as the principal body of the United Nations entrusted with the promotion and protection of human rights, the State of Qatar has sought to be a member in the Council since its inception.

In this context, the State of Qatar was keen during its membership in the Human Rights Council in the period 2007-2011 and 2011-2013 to actively participate and cooperate in a constructive manner with the Member States to best fulfill the Council's mandate in achieving the lofty purposes for which it was established. The State of Qatar was elected for the third time, 2015-2017, to continue its active role in the international efforts to promote and protect human rights, based on the principles enshrined in the Constitution of the country. Being a party to most of the core international human rights instruments, and having amended national legislation and laws in accordance with those instruments and their implementation, the State of Qatar is also keen to cooperate with other international and regional mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as within its process of reviewing the State of Qatar National reports before the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review. It is also collaborating with the human rights treaty bodies and fulfilling its obligations towards them. Furthermore, Qatari experts are contributing with their valuable inputs through their membership in the treaty committees and various activities of the Council. The State of Qatar has also actively participated in other groups addressing specific human rights threats, including, but not limited to, the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking.

In line with the policy of the State of Qatar, Doha hosts the United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the Arab Region, which plays a significant role in the region to raise awareness of human rights, organize meetings, workshops and provide training for public servants in Government institutions and activists in this area.  

Social Contributions by the State of Qatar

The State of Qatar launched several social initiatives at the international level, including the initiative of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser “Protect Education in Insecurity and Armed Conflict” to promote and protect the right to education in areas affected or threatened by crisis, conflicts and insecurity; the “Reach Out To Asia” (ROTO) initiative, a philanthropic organization working under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, to support communities to overcome obstacles and create links that allow them to achieve education for all; the Silatech initiative, which is a social initiative to expand employment and business opportunities for young people all over the Arab world and also support projects managed by young people; and the “Educate a Child” initiative, which is a global initiative aimed at reducing the number of children who have lost their right to education worldwide as a result of conflicts, wars and natural disasters, and groups that could face particular challenges depriving them of education, such as girls, people with disabilities and minorities.

In view of the positive impact of sports on health and society, and sports being a significant element of human development and a means to promote education, health, development, peace, cooperation, tolerance and social inclusion, the State of Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

At the United Nations, the State of Qatar played a leading role in furthering issues that promoted the role of the family as the basic unit in building society and achieving social development. The Permanent Mission carries out the role of facilitator in consultations on family-related draft resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and ECOSOC. The State of Qatar is also a founding member of the Group of Friends of the Family in New York.

The State of Qatar sponsored a General Assembly draft resolution by which 2 April was designated as World Autism Awareness Day to raise public awareness of that disorder and of ways to integrate persons with autism in society and to contribute to scientific research in that area.  

Humanitarian and Development Contributions by the State of Qatar  

As part of its overarching policy, the State of Qatar attaches great importance to different aspects of sustainable development at the national and international levels. It also recognizes that achieving sustainable development remains an important challenge for the countries at the national level as well as a global challenge that the international community should address. The State of Qatar participates actively and interactively with other States in the ongoing negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, that include the future agenda of the international community in the development, social, environmental and other fields.

The State of Qatar attaches importance to the issue of climate change as one of the current and future global challenges. In that spirit, it hosted the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP18). His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, launched an initiative to create an international organization for drylands. The State of Qatar had contributed to the establishment of the Global Dryland Alliance, and joined the Group of Friends on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought. The State of Qatar has also launched humanitarian and development initiatives at the international level, including the HOPEFOR initiative to enhance the effectiveness and coordination of the use of military and civil defense assets in response to natural disasters. The permanent mission in New York is the coordinator of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation Working Group on Development.

The humanitarian field occupies a prominent place in the policy of the State and reflects the values and principles of the Qatari people. The State of Qatar has been and will always be at the forefront of countries that provide humanitarian and development assistance both at the bilateral level and through the United Nations, all over the world especially to the developing countries facing crises and natural disasters, through the Qatar Development Fund and the Department of International Development at Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In view of its significant humanitarian contributions, the State of Qatar is member of the Board of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.

Counter-terrorism

The State of Qatar has actively participated in international efforts to combat terrorism and cooperated with the relevant United Nations counter-terrorism bodies, notably the Security Council and its relevant committees. It stresses the need to address the root causes of terrorism and not to associate it with any religion, culture or civilization. It has also been working with other States in a bid to formulate a definition of terrorism that takes into account the right of peoples to self-determination, and the obligation to criminalize religious hatred and abuse of religious symbols.

Financial Contributions in Support of the United Nations.

The State of Qatar is keen to support the United Nations organs by all means available, and to provide them with the tools that enable them to carry out their tasks and achieve the objectives for which they were established. In addition to its assessed contributions in funding the regular budget and the United Nations peacekeeping operations, it has made voluntary contributions to many United Nations funds and programmes used primarily for poverty alleviation, providing basic education, and emergency response to disasters and crises. During the period from 2000 to 2014, the State of Qatar made contributions to more than 41 bodies or entities of the United Nations.

Voluntary contributions are based on an integrated national approach that is consistent with the Government’s priorities and strategies to support the efforts of international institutions in different areas including mediation, promotion of sustainable development plans, strengthening children conditions and protecting them in developing countries, elimination of discrimination against women and girls, bolstering humanitarian assistance in regions of conflict and war, supporting and strengthening efforts to reduce anticipated humanitarian needs in complex emergencies, including issues of protection, deep-rooted poverty and food insecurity. The main funds and programmes to which the State of Qatar has contributed to are: 

  1. The United Nations Population Fund
  2. The United Nations Development Programme
  3. The United Nations Children's Fund
  4. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  5. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, through which the following entities are supported: 
    1. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
    2. The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund
    3. Emergency appeals for humanitarian needs
  6. The Trust Fund for Global Threats and Regional Reactions for a Common Approach to Maritime piracy
  7. The United Nations Trust Fund for the Alliance of Civilizations
  8. The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
  9. The Trust Fund in support of special missions and other activities related to preventive diplomacy and peacemaking
  10. The Trust Fund for the Reconstruction and Development in Darfur