A/HRC/44/57/Add.33 Addendum by the State of Qatar to the draft report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance I. Introduction The Government of the State of Qatar would like to thank Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, for her visit to the State of Qatar during the period from 24 November to 01 December 2019. The Government of the State of Qatar appreciates the constructive discussions that the Special Rapporteur held with various departments and persons during the visit. The Government of the State of Qatar also thanks the Special Rapporteur for sending an advanced version of the report for comments by the government. We welcome the Special Rapporteur's observations on the important reforms undertaken by the State of Qatar in labour laws. It is heartening to note that the Special Rapporteur found the measures and guarantees that are now in place to promote and protect the rights of the expatriate workers as "impressive". The Government of the State of Qatar has taken note of the various recommendations of the Special Rapporteur, and is pleased to note that it is taking necessary action to implement a number of these recommendations. In this regard, particular attention is being given to include within the national law a definition of ‘racial discrimination’ consistent with Article 1 of the Convention, as well as to consider the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action with regard to establishing an independent body to promote equality, in response to the concluding observations of CERD made in January 2019 following its examination of the combined seventeenth to twenty-first periodic reports of Qatar. The State of Qatar will also continue its efforts to implement the recommendations noted in paragraph 65 concerning combating racial discrimination, and its efforts pertaining to the promotion and protection of workers' rights in accordance with the recommendations provided in paragraphs 66, 67, 68 , 69 and 70, while bearing in mind the religious, cultural and the special social characteristics of the State of Qatar. Racial discrimination against citizens as a result of the Gulf crisis The Government of the State of Qatar notes with regret that the Special Rapporteur didn’t refer in any part of her report to the ongoing discriminatory measures to which its citizens are subject to since June 5, 2017 on account of discriminatory measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, against them. The Special Rapporteur had an ample opportunity to hear witnesses and accounts from concerned authorities and persons about the adverse consequences of the unjust blockade and violations of the human rights of the affected persons particularly the rights guaranteed under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination1.We respectfully submit that the Report would do well to note the dangerous consequences of this 1 2 The National Human Rights Committee has documented 4275 complaints, submitted by citizens and residents in the State of Qatar, since the start of the blockade on 5 June 2017, and 3381 complaints were submitted by Qatari citizens and 853 complaints were submitted by residents of different nationalities during the previous years of the blockade. The National Committee counted 1320 complaints on the violations of the right to movement, 1310 complaints on violations of the right to own property, 662 complaints were against the violations of the right to family reunification, 526 complaints on the violations of the right to education, 173 complaints on the violations of the right to practice religious rites , 113 complaints on the violations of the right to work, 94 complaints on the violations of the right to residency, 38 complaints on the violations of the right to health, 14 complaints on the violations of the right to obtain official documents, 3 complaints on the violations of the enforced disappearance, 3 complaints on the violations of arbitrary detentions, 2 complaints on the violations of degrading human dignity, as well as the violations of the right to fair trial.