01.12.16
Qatar believes in dialogue as the principal method in handling issues and disputes, and the ideal means of exchanging views in global political challenges, HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi has said.
Addressing the 9th World Policy Conference, currently underway in Doha, the minister said the current global challenges are getting more complex every day, requiring more collective co-operation so as to achieve global peace.
The minister added that Qatar is an advocate of peace and believes in bringing people together regardless of their race, beliefs, languages and culture.
He said that people are all partners in the ownership of the planet and to protect it by tackling challenges and coming up with solutions and building human values.
The risks of instability and the absence of law anywhere affect states and societies, he said, adding that the effects of political conflicts and disputes as well extremism and the absence of the rule of law are no longer exclusive to a single place or culture.
HE al-Muraikhi said Qatar has worked through mediation to achieve stability in several areas of the world where conflicts and disputes are present.
Qatar has offered aid to countries going through post-conflict transitional periods and supported reform in many countries out of the belief that reconciliation and national settlements are the way towards stability and paving the way for the rule of law, he said.
The political instability in the Arab world is a source of concern for Qatar, the minister said, adding that the reasons differ from one country to another. He noted that the rule of law is always absent wherever there are ethnic or sectarian conflicts, extremist groups, tribal fanaticism, terrorism, and wars.
He said that whole nations get destroyed and peoples displaced, and hence, they flee under pressure to other areas such as Europe, creating other problems rather than solving the main one.
HE al-Muraikhi said that the absence of a solution to the Paleinian issue since 1948 did not make Palestinian refugees forget about their villages and cities, stressing that it is about time the international society recognises the right of an independent Palestinian state to exist with Jerusalem as its capital.
The 68-year-old conflict in Palestine is legal in nature, the minister said, adding that Israel continues to refuse to listen to international law and implement several Security Council resolutions. The consequent Israeli governments opted to use force and violence against the Palestinian people instead of addressing their legitimate demands that are backed by the international law.
As for Yemen, the Qatari minister said a coup occurred there against a legitimate elected government, which also means the issue is legal in nature, while the current war would have never happened if those who carried out the coup hadn’t violated the law that compels all sides to respect the legitimate government.
In Syria, al-Muraikhi said, peaceful demonstrations calling for reform and basic freedoms have turned into full-fledged war for five years because the regime refused to respect its own laws and human rights by listening to the demands of the people, opting instead to use military force against peaceful protesters.
The situation in all these countries as well as others calls for a review to the global stance towards them and whether enough has been done to stop the destruction and bring hope and stability back to these people, the minister said.
He added that the law has been violated in each of these cases, resulting in chaos, which can only be stopped through comprehensive national settlement and restoring the rule of law.
The minister of state for foreign affairs said that the political chaos that is created by some regional and international powers have led to the erosion of the sovereignty of weak states and their inability to defend the citizen’s right to a decent living. That is what is really happening in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Palestine, and others, al-Muraikhi said.
(MENAFN – Gulf Times)