Qatar

New York / Information Office / June 27  

The State of Qatar reiterated its full determination to cooperate with various United Nations bodies related to the fight against terrorism and to support the efforts of those bodies in fulfilling their mandate and their ability to assist Member States in eradicating this scourge.

This came in a statement delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Abdulrahman Yacoub Al Hammadi, at the UN General Assembly session on "Sixth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy" at UN Headquarters in New York.

The Deputy Permanent Representative reviewed the comprehensive approach taken by the State of Qatar in the fight against terrorism, reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and its fully compliance with its obligations under international instruments and Security Council resolutions relating to the fight against terrorism and its financing as well as its severe condemnation of terrorism in all its forms whenever and wherever committed and by whomever committed regardless of its justifications.

He added that the State of Qatar was taking a comprehensive approach to combating terrorism in line with the four pillars of the global strategy to counter this scourge in all its aspects, in addition of being a privileged partner in international efforts to combat terrorism at various military, financial and legal levels, it also focuses on strengthening efforts to eliminate conditions leading to terrorism, such as the security vacuum and policies based on injustice, tyranny, repression, marginalization and discrimination, by supporting technical capacity-building to prevent violent extremism leading to terrorism.

Al Hammadi pointed out that recognizing the importance of prevention, the State of Qatar has adopted a comprehensive approach that involves the consolidation of a culture of peace, tolerance and dialogue among civilizations, cultures and religions, hosts a range of leading intellectual, enlightenment and mediation centers in the region and promotes freedom of expression and freedom of press to counter any attempt to exploit counter-terrorism as a pretext for achieving political objectives.

Al Hammadi added that the State of Qatar welcomed the adoption of the General Assembly resolution on the review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, stressing that the current review provided an opportunity for Member States to assess how best to implement the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and to update it to cope with the evolving changes and challenges facing the international community.

He added that the resolution adopted by the General Assembly was important in strengthening the collective action to combat this serious scourge and strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system to assist Member States in that area, welcoming the important new elements of the resolution, including those relating to the Counter-Terrorism Bureau in the Secretariat.

He referred to the initiative of the State of Qatar to hold the General Assembly meeting on the prevention of children and young people from violent extremism in June 2016 and that the State of Qatar has launched initiatives that have become concrete in support of education and youth employment in order to keep them away from the specter of extremism and terrorism, pointing to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Silatech Foundation and the United Nations Office for Combating Terrorism to support youth employment opportunities within the framework of the implementation of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

He praised the General Assembly's resolution, which stresses the importance of education as a tool to prevent terrorism and violent extremism, pointing out that "Educate a Child" program of Education Above All Foundation, recently announced its success in achieving its goal of re-enrolling 10 million children in schools around the world and Qatar is one of the founders of the global fund for involving communities and enhancing adaptive capacity, which attaches particular importance to resisting the agendas of violent extremism and Qatar is a major contributor to this fund.

Al Hammadi said also that the State of Qatar is working within the framework of relevant international organizations and platforms, including the Financial Action Task Force, the International Monetary Fund and the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, and is an active member of the International Coalition Against ISIS.

He added that Qatar's commitment to international cooperation is reflected in its support for the United Nations efforts, such as the adoption of the study on the links between human trafficking and financing of terrorism in the context of the implementation of Security Council resolution 2331 (2016) and the State of Qatar has signed several bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding with a number of friendly countries from around the world such as the United States, the People's Republic of China and France, expressing the belief of the State of Qatar that the elimination of this cross-border scourge requires cooperation and concerted efforts.

The Deputy Permanent Representative added that the State of Qatar continues at the national level to strengthen national legislation related to the fight against terrorism in order to adapt to the latest changes, challenges and international resolutions. He pointed out the issuance of a system of listing terrorism lists and new rules for the definition of terrorism and the financing of terrorism.