Doha, 10 July 2022 (QT)

By Ashraf Siddiqui

SULTAN bin Hassan Al Jamali, Secretary-General of National Human Rights Committee of Qatar, recently held a series of meetings with senior Turkish officials, including those from the country’s human rights institutions during his two day official visit to Turkey.

The dignitaries with whom Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali held meetings included Hakan Cavusoglu, president, Turkish Grand National Assembly; Zaki Yigit, chairman, State Council, the highest administrative court in Republic of Turkey; Sharif Malkoj, head, Board of Grievances; Dr Cagatay Ozdemir, deputy director, Directorate of Communications; Prof Muharrem Qalyash, chairman, Turkish Human Rights Committee and Ombudsman Institution, a constitutional public entity affiliated with Turkish Grand National Assembly.

The sides discussed ways to develop training tools and enhance the use of competencies and expertise. Besides, they exchanges experiences in areas of cooperation like organising programmes and activities.

Al-Jamali stressed the need to strengthen cooperation with the Board of Grievances’ secretaries, in spreading the culture of human rights among union members, as well as to introduce the rights and roles of the Board of Grievances’ secretaries.

He gave a brief overview of the National Human Rights Committee and its functions, and the laws that supported its promulgation in the country. Al-Jamali also briefed the other side on NHRC Qatar’s experience in receiving the grievances and complaints and coordinating with the concerned authorities to resolve the issues.

He also spoke about conducting visits to places of detention and the recommendations to the government. He also stressed the importance of building bridges of communication with different nationalities working in State of Qatar by establishing their offices at its headquarters in Doha as well as directly dealing with
their issues.

These practices have helped in the preparation of recommendations to ensure human rights compatibility with international standards. They have also helped in raising and spreading awareness of cultureof human rights, especially for law enforcement personnel.

The Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar also spoke about the contributions of NHRC with regards to the national legislation under Decrees 40 and 41 (of 2018) regarding the accession of the State of Qatar to the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the establishment of a special committee to study national legislation in light of the ratification on the covenants.

Al-Jamali talked about the extensive labour law reforms as well as about the establishment of the Labour Dispute Resolution Committee (March 2018) to speed up work.