Human Rights Council 47th Session of the Universal Periodic Review - State of Qatar

Mr President,

We warmly welcome the delegation from the State of Qatar.

We welcome Qatar’s progress towards girls having equal access to education.  We further acknowledge the work undertaken by Qatar to prevent gender-based violence and strengthen legal protections for victims.

New Zealand recommends that the State of Qatar:

1. Place an absolute ban on death sentences and takes steps to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR;
2. Strengthen measures to prohibit torture, including by ensuring that the prohibition of torture is established as absolute and non-derogable in national legislation and by establishing a mechanism to ensure all allegations of torture are investigated impartially; and
3. Implement recommendations made by the National Human Rights Committee to bring domestic legislation into compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

We thank the delegation for their participation today and their consideration of these recommendations.

Thank you Mr President.