Doha, June 15 (QNA) - Chairman of the National Committee for Human Rights (NHRC) Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri met here on Thursday with the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Rashid Khalikov.

During the meeting, they discussed the humanitarian and human rights challenges resulting from the siege imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain on the State of Qatar. The two sides discussed the unprecedented measures taken by the isolation cluster, classifying some of the Qatari humanitarian organizations as terrorist organizations, on the terrorism list issued by those States as a unilateral coercive measure.

Al Marri stressed that these measures are intended to obstruct the external humanitarian assistance provided by the State of Qatar by smearing the reputation of its charitable organizations and obstructing their work. He added that the accusations made by the three countries have been ignored, because they were not issued by relevant international institutions of the United Nations and because of the regional and international reputation and credibility on both regional and international levels as well as the operational and financial partnerships with the United Nations agencies and mechanisms, particularly OCHA, UNICEF and UNHCR.

The NHRC Chairman noted that Qatari humanitarian organizations have partnerships with specialized international agencies and humanitarian organizations such as the International Red Cross and the Humanitarian Affairs Office of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the strong partnerships linking Qatari humanitarian organizations with their counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council. He pointed that the State of Qatar is the only GCC State that has established a regulatory authority to oversee and control the charitable and humanitarian activities.

He considered that this Regulatory Authority to be a regional model in the field of supervision and control, as documented by international reports issued by the UN, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the US Department of Treasury. "Thanks to these efforts, no Qatari humanitarian organization has been listed on the United Nations' international terrorism list, and some of them are in consultative status with the international organization," he said.

Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri denounced the blockade imposed by the three countries, in a failed attempt to obstruct the Qatari humanitarian work. He considered the unilateral move of classifying Qatari humanitarian organizations as "Terrorist organizations" to be a violation of the right to development, assistance and relief as well as a violation of the rights of vulnerable and needy communities.

He called for a prompt action by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to stop those violations and unfair accusations against Qatari humanitarian organizations. (QNA)