The State of Qatar renewed its commitment to continue its efforts to promote social development at the national and international levels.
This came in a statement delivered by Alanoud Qassim Al Temimi, second secretary of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the UN, before the third committee of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly on "social development", in New York.
Al Temimi said that Qatar National Vision 2030 aims at building an effective social protection system that protects the civil rights of all citizens and appreciates their effective participation in the development of society and provides them with a decent level of dignity and health for all. She added that in line with this vision, the first national strategy (2011-2016) has been successfully implemented, where it included the implementation of social policies and programs in five strategic sectors, including family cohesion, empowerment of women and social protection. She pointed out that the second national development strategy (2018-2022) was launched this year, in which social protection occupies an advanced position in the development priorities.
She explained that the State of Qatar has developed social protection systems and programs to ensure decent life for all citizens and provide social care to all segments of society without discrimination, adding that the social protection system consists of social security services carried out by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, and rehabilitation and employment services for social security beneficiaries.
Al Temimi added that the role of the state does not stop at providing cash subsidies to vulnerable groups to meet the demands of daily life, but also to protect the citizen from the dangers of poverty through the retirement and pensions system undertaken by the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority. She pointed out that civil society organizations play a major role in this regard, where Qatar Foundation for Social Work is leading the work of providing social welfare services by serving as an umbrella for seven active civil society organizations throughout Qatar.
She said that the State of Qatar has gone ahead with the implementation of its social plans and programs, and has endeavored to overcome the emergency obstacles faced by the State of Qatar for nearly a year and a half, adding that these obstacles were meant to prevent the State of Qatar from continuing its ambitious development plans in human and social development and from playing its role at the international level. She stressed that Qatari institutions proved their success by providing services to 1036 non-Qatari nationals who were affected by the blockading countries' measures, according to the report of the Qatar Foundation for Social Work, in the context of providing family, social, counseling and rehabilitation services to those individuals affected by such procedures. This confirms the State of Qatar's keenness and commitment to human rights and respect for international humanitarian law, she added.
Al Tamimi noted that empowering persons with disabilities is an absolute priority for the State of Qatar. She added that the state established many governmental and non-governmental institutions to protect the rights of that segment and provide specialized services to them. She highlighted the third edition of the international Doha conference that took place in May 2018 as an example of that. The conference focused on enhancing the role of blind women in society. She also noted that youth enjoy a high priority among the state's policies, particularly raising the education system's level and healthcare. There are also other policies focused on encouraging sports and creating jobs, she noted.
She also stressed Qatar's firm belief in the importance of the family as the basic building block of society. The Qatari official highlighted that the national strategic plans for development gave great importance to enhancing the economic and social situation of families, and addressed issues affecting the structure and cohesion of the family. She then noted that the National Human Rights Committee documented 646 violations having adverse effects on many families, resulting from the unilateral measures taken against the State of Qatar. Those cases included separation of family members, with Al Tamimi adding that some of the weakest segments in society like women and the elderly paid the heaviest price for those measures.
She noted that Qatar's strategy for international cooperation came in response to the Qatar National Vision 2030, and in keeping with the country's commitment to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. She added that the Qatari strategy focused in particular on realizing Goal 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which was dedicated to pursuing International Partnerships for Development to end poverty and providing employment, Education, healthcare assistance for the least developed countries.
Al Tamimi then said that Silatech was born out of that commitment, in addition to other institutions such as Education Above All. These institutions cooperate with many partners around the world to tackle many issues such as providing high-quality education in conflict-stricken areas.
Al Tamimi concluded the statement by renewing the State of Qatar's commitment to pursing social development on a national and international level. She added that the country would do that by establishing partnerships with UN and international organizations that are committed to realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.