Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali
Doha, Qatar: The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has completed its preparations to host the Second National Forum on Human Rights on September 12-13 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
This year’s programme aims to introduce public opinion to the issue of disability from a human rights perspective. The exhibition will discuss documents and works on protecting people with disabilities over the past twenty years since NHRC’s establishment.
Secretary-General of the NHRC, Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali, said that the forum and exhibition held on the sidelines aim to provide a national dialogue platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences, building capacities, reviewing legislation, policies, plans and programmes concerned with protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in Qatar and promoting their integration.
Al Jamali added that the Forum seeks to enhance the participation of persons with disabilities in all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life to integrate them into society and achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030. He stressed the keenness of the organisers to urge the authorities concerned with disability in Qatar to develop recommendations that would provide appropriate solutions to the challenges and problems faced by persons with disabilities based on a human rights-based approach.
Al Jamali pointed out that the Forum is an opportunity to educate the Qatari society on the rights of persons with disabilities and encourage all its institutions to pay attention to the issue of disability as a human rights issue, not a medical issue or one with a charitable dimension and human sympathy. This is important to change the stereotype which keeps them isolated from society.
Al Jamali revealed that the Forum is based on the idea that the main participation is in presenting papers and interventions for people with disabilities and in implementing the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Forum will also provide prominent participation for models of people with disabilities to talk about their experiences, the challenges they faced, and the solutions they devised on the way to success.
During the forum, the NHRC will also publish the recommendations and send the proposals to all governmental and quasi-governmental agencies and civil society organisations concerned with disability as a national road map for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, empowering them and integrating them into society, Al Jamali revealed. He said the forum will showcase Qatar’s efforts in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
NHRC will also hold an exhibition on the sidelines of the forum in which works, activities, and events will be held for organisations working for people with disabilities, and companies and institutions concerned in Qatar.
