HAUGE – The UN’s top court Monday ordered the United Arab Emirates toprotect the rights of Qatari citizens wading into a bitter crisis which hassnapped ties between Doha and its Gulf neighbours.
Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague narrowlyruled in a binding decision that the UAE must allow families, which includeQatari members, to be reunited, and that Qatari students must be given thechance to complete their education in the Emirates.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and other allies severed ties with Qatar onJune 7, 2017, accusing Doha of backing terrorism. Qatari nationals livingin the UAE were officially given just 14 days to leave the country.
But Doha denies the accusations, and last month appealed to the ICJ toimpose emergency measures against the UAE accusing Abu Dhabi of breakingthe 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of RacialDiscrimination (CERD).
In a hearing in late June, Qatar accused the United Arab Emirates ofspreading a “climate of fear” among Qataris living there, splittingfamilies and causing “substantial pain” during the year-long blockade.
On Monday, the ICJ judges voted by eight votes in favour and seven againstthat the UAE “must ensure that families, that include a Qatari, separatedby the measures adopted by the United Arab Emirates … are reunited,” saidpresiding judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf.
Qatari students must also be given the opportunity “to complete theireducation” in the Emirates or obtain their educational records if they wishto study elsewhere. Qataris “affected” by the UAE measures must also beallowed “access to tribunals and other judicial organs” in the country.
– ‘Repairing the damage’ –
Qatar welcomed Monday’s ruling, with foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed binSaeed al-Rumaihi, saying in a tweet that his country “was not seeking toescalate the dispute with the Emirates, but to repair the prejudice imposedon its citizens”.
The move into the international courts came a year after the severing ofties and imposition of punitive measures, accusing Doha of backingterrorism.
These also included banning Qatar Airways from their airspace and closingthe country’s only land border with Saudi Arabia.
The UAE had insisted the ICJ had no authority to hear Qatar’s case andstressed the situation for Qataris living in the country today is differentfrom a year ago.
“Qatar has failed to provide any evidence of mass expulsions ordeportations or any specific actions to interfere in the enjoyment byQataris of their civil, property or business rights,” Saeed Alnowais, theUAE’s ambassador to the Netherlands, told the court last month.
He accused Doha of “mounting a public relations campaign against thesestates that have been most critical of its policies.”
The ICJ was set up in 1946 to rule in disputes against states.
Diplomatic efforts have so far proved fruitless in resolving the crisiswhich has rendered the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council practicallyobsolete. – APP/AFP