A/HRC/44/57/Add.33 B. Combating direct, indirect and structural racial discrimination, including based on nationality and national origin Para 13, 15 and 16: We reaffirm our comment on paragraphs 8 and 12 that the legal framework of the State of Qatar including the Constitution and national laws embraces the principles of equality and non-discrimination. Under article (68) of the Constitution the agreements to which the State of Qatar is party have the force of law. The Qatari legislator uses the general formulation for determining rights or defining the obligations incumbent on those to whom these provisions are addressed in a manner that does not reflect any discrimination based on ethnic or national origin or other grounds of discrimination. Moreover, bilateral agreements for bringing expatriate workers concluded by the State of Qatar with the countries of origin of the workers do not include any discriminatory provisions on the basis of national or ethnic origin making no distinction between one State and another. Standard format has also been developed for these bilateral agreements and memorandums (36 bilateral agreements and 13 MoU), and standard employment contract is attached to those agreements which applies to all workers from different nationalities without any discrimination on the basis of national, ethnic, or religious origin. Workers are selected by employers on the basis of actual need heeding to the concept of supply and demand and on the basis of a contractual relationship between the two parties. C. Combating racial profiling Para 18: The State of Qatar is concerned over the Special Rapporteur’s reliance on inaccurate reports that were not referred to as a reference in the report. Qatar therefore maintains a reservation to the discriminatory and contradictory interpretation in this paragraph, which indicates that African men in the State of Qatar are considered to be “unsanitary”, while African women are presumed to be “sexually available”, in addition to other contradictions that are contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, laws and procedures taken by the State of Qatar. Para 22 and 23: We submit that visas are granted on the basis of balanced ratios to all nationalities without discrimination and according to the needs of the labour market. The granting process is done electronically based on a request submitted by the employer detailing the skills and competencies required for the specific job. Accordingly, the applications are studied based on the nature of available competencies and what is known as the concept of supply and demand. All workers of different nationalities are subject to the same legal conditions and provisions enshrined in national legislations, labour contracts or bilateral agreements on recruiting workers from abroad. They actually enjoy the same rights and privileges. Nothing in the provisions of the labour law or any other legislation provide for granting specific jobs to certain nationalities or linking a specific nationality to specific jobs. The State of Qatar concludes these agreements with brotherly and friendly countries with the aim of realizing economic and developmental integration between the State of Qatar and friendly nations. These bilateral arrangements are very common in all countries of the world and their importance has been stressed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Labour Organization instruments as practices in managing labour flows between countries and in contributing to the protection of migrant workers. Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) states that: “Whenever necessary or desirable, bilateral agreements are concluded for the purpose of regulating migration for employment in cases where the number of migrants is sufficiently large”. Also, the ILO recommendation annexed to 1949 (86) includes a model agreement on temporary and permanent workers which has affected the development of bilateral working arrangements around the world over the years, the principles of which remain valid until now. All bilateral agreements concluded by the State of Qatar came in line with international human rights standards and migrant workers' rights ratified by the two countries. 5