The State of Qatar has expressed its concern about the racist and discriminatory practices that some religious and ethnic minorities have been subjected to in some countries due to the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and called for effective measures that enhance the values of equality in response efforts to this pandemic.

This came in the speech of the State of Qatar delivered by HE the State of Qatar's Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Ambassador Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri, during the public debate session under the 9th item on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, within the agenda of the 45th regular session of the Human Rights Council.

His Excellency said that after more than half a century since the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the principles and standards contained therein still constitute the cornerstone for addressing many of the challenges that the world faces today, especially with the emergence of new and renewed patterns of racist and discriminatory practices linked to the policies and decisions of countries.

His Excellency stressed that Qatar has repeatedly emphasized that these patterns are among the worst forms of racial discrimination that leave no room for opposition at the national level and thus result in widespread of human rights violations with complete impunity for those who make such decisions.

In this regard, His Excellency cited the blockade and the discriminatory measures imposed on the State of Qatar and its citizens, which entered its fourth year last June, and directly targeted Qatari citizens in a precedent that has never been witnessed in contemporary history, and affected even the citizens of the blockading countries themselves, with the absence of any means of justice and grievance at the national level.

His Excellency said that the absence of independent national litigation mechanisms in the blockading countries that could review these decisions, prompted the State of Qatar to knock on the doors of international mechanisms, such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that issued a decision with jurisdiction and accepting consideration of complaints submitted by the State of Qatar against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and the International Court of Justice, which has ordered the imposition of temporary measures to stop some practices committed by the UAE, pending the final decision of the case.