DOHA: The Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Interior has become an active channel of redressing the woes and problems people face with the different departments of the ministry, says a senior official.
The popularity of the Department among both, citizens and expatriates, has been increasing literally by the day, says Brigadier Abdullah Saqr Al Mohannadi.
“We have been remarkably successful in winning the trust of the people,” Al Mohannadi said. “People with grievances can approach us directly,” he added.
Such is the popularity of this human rights cell of the interior ministry that now almost half the grievances (48 percent of total complaints) communicated to it for redress are brought by people directly, he said.
A little more than a fourth of the woes (26 percent) are sent to the department by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC). The priority in Qatar is to comply with the highest international human rights standards to host the FIFA World Cup 2022, said Al Mohannadi. He is director of the interior ministry’s human rights department which was set up in 2005.
He said: “We are according high priority to dealing with transparency in the matter of human rights and complying with the highest global standards”. Hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a challenge and Qatar is giving priority to meeting the highest international human rights standards.
He told Al Sharq in an interview that in 2010 Qatar discussed the report (on it) of the UN Human Rights Council and accepted its recommendation to host its rapporteurs and UN monitoring of the human rights situation here.
And as per an agreement with the Council, Qatar has in the past four years received representatives from various international human rights organisations and civil societies. The setting up of organisations like the ones to fight human trafficking and provide shelter and help to abused women and children, aside from the interior ministry’s own human rights department, has won praise for Qatar from international civil societies, he said.
Qatar won admiration in the 2014 report of the UN Human Rights Council. “They (the Qatari organisations) have opened up active channels of communication with the international human rights organisation. There is close interaction between these local bodies and their international counterparts,” Al Mohannadi said.
Talking of workers’ rights, he said if there is a group complaint his department makes a site visit. “We also pay weekly visits to the prison to assess the situation there are spread awareness about human rights.”
Instead of dealing with different departments of the interior ministry people can now approach its human rights department to seek redress if they have some issues or problems.
“Our department has also made it easier for the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) to seek redress of the problems that are brought to it by the people.”
He said such is the popularity of his department that more and more people are approaching it directly to get their woes redressed.
There are three ways his Department receives complaints: directly, from the NHRC and from other government offices and agencies, said Al Mohannadi.
The Peninsula
