The Arab Anti-Terrorism Quartet, which is formed of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, strongly condemned a report issued by a committee of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as misleading, inaccurate and based on incomplete understanding of the political crisis between the four countries and Doha and its historical context.
The four States’ accredited missions in Geneva issued a joint statement in response to the report prepared by the UNHRC’s technical committee following its visit to Doha on Nov. 17-24.
“The basis of this crisis lies in Qatar's support for individuals and entities involved in the financing of terrorism, supporting its activities and promoting extremist ideology that incites violence and encourages hate speech in the Arab region through direct media platforms or funding by Qatari personalities,” the statement said.
It added that the boycott against Qatar was a “sovereign right for defending national security and comes as a normal reaction that is even less intense than the practices of the Qatari government and its support of terrorism in contravention to the UN Charter, international laws and all relevant resolutions issued by the Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly.”
The Arab Quartet, on the other hand, emphasized that measures against Qatar were not targeted against the Qatari people “with whom the Quartet has deeply rooted brotherly and fraternal bonds.”
The four countries said the report contained groundless allegations and accusations, and showed blatant bias in favor of Qatar based on false claims, which Doha sought to promote on the regional and international levels.
The statement also expressed the Quartet’s reservation over the timing used by the Qatari National Human Rights Commission to leak the report during a news conference held in Doha on Jan. 8, noting that the UN committee did not send the report to the missions of the four countries prior to its announcement by Qatar.
