The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has completed its preparations for convening the second national forum which will begin on Tuesday and will run for two days at Ritz-Carlton Hotel, under the theme of ‘Human rights of persons with disabilities, protection and empowerment’.

In a statement today, the committee stated that an accompanying exhibition will also be held in which the works, activities and events of organizations, companies and institutions in charge of persons with disabilities in the State of Qatar will be organized. The exhibition aims to introduce the public to the issue of disability from a human rights perspective.

The exhibition will display these entities’ documents and works on the protection of people with disabilities over the past twenty years since its establishment.

HE NHRC Secretary-General Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali said that the forum and the accompanying exhibition aim to provide a national dialogue platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences, building capabilities, and reviewing legislation, policies, plans and programs concerned with protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in Qatar, as well as enhancing their integration into society, an implementation of its national and international obligations related to the rights of persons with disabilities, which will shed light on the reality of their rights and examine the extent to which they actually enjoy them.

Al Jamali added that the forum will enhance the participation of persons with disabilities in all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life in order to integrate them into society to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030 and to involve them, their families, the organizations that represent them and all stakeholders in developing and implementing legislation, policies, plans and programs aimed at protecting people with disabilities and their rights, and making decisions related to them.

He stressed the forum organizers’ keenness on urging 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 on the basis of a human rights-based approach.

Al Jamali pointed out that the forum will focus on highlighting, documenting and promoting best national practices in the field of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities to overcome the challenges of disability and ensure their independence and integration into society as active elements like other members of society, as well as drawing on international best practices in this field and studying the possibility of applying them at the national level.

He pointed out that the forum will be an opportunity to raise awareness and educate Qatari society about the rights of persons with disabilities and to encourage all its institutions to pay attention to the issue of disability as a human rights issue and not a medical or a charitable one, with the importance of changing the stereotypical image about them.

Al Jamali noted that the forum will give priority to the participation of people with disabilities, their families, and the organizations that represent them in presenting papers as the primary stakeholders concerned with the challenge of disability, and in implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls for their effective participation in developing and implementing legislation, policies, plans and programs aimed at implementing its provisions, and making decisions related to them in other issues and matters.

The forum will also provide prominent participation for those with disabilities in order to talk about their experiences, the challenges they faced, and the solutions they created on the path to success.

Al Jamali revealed that the NHRC will publish the forum’s work in an electronic and printed document after its end, and will also send the forum’s recommendations to all governmental and semi-governmental agencies and civil society organizations concerned with disability, as a national road map for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, empowering them, and integrating them into society.

He pointed out that the forum will highlight the efforts of the State of Qatar in the field of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities after years of organized work in this field, adding these efforts were made by all parties concerned with disability in the health, educational, cultural, economic, and other fields.

HE NHRC Secretary-General said that the forum will also consolidate cooperation in creating scientific solutions based on a human rights perspective to direct the energies of people with disabilities and integrate them into society, in implementation of the sustainable development goals and leaving no one behind.

Source: Qatar News Agency