NHRC to Enhance Cooperation and Exchange of Experiences with Turkish Side

NHRC to Enhance Cooperation and Exchange of Experiences with Turkish Side

HE the Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), Sultan bin Hassan al-Jamali, met separately in the Turkish capital, Ankara, with the President of the Council of State (Turkey's highest administrative court) Zeki Yigit, the Chief Ombudsman of Turkey Seref Malkoc, and the Deputy Director of the Presidential Communications of the Republic of Turkey Cagatay Ozdemir, HE President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Parliament) Hakan Cavusoglu, and HE President of Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey Prof. Muharrem Kilic.During the meetings, which came on the sidelines of Al-Jamali's visit to Turkey, they discussed ways to develop training tools and enhance the utilisation of competencies, expertise, best practices and experiences, and identify priorities for co-operation with regard to each party's benefit from the programmes and activities organised by the other party and framed in memorandums of understanding that support joint action. Al-Jamali also stressed the need to strengthen co-operation with the Ombudsman's office, to spread the culture of human rights among union members, as well as the definition of the rights and role of the Ombudsman's office. He provided a brief overview of the committee and its tasks, and the laws that supported its issuance in the country, indicating that the committee receives grievances and complaints and works with the authorities to resolve them. It also conducts visits to places of detention, as well as submitting recommendations to the government. He reviewed the efforts of the committee in establishing offices for the communities, at its headquarters in Doha, and the great importance of this in building bridges of communication with the various nationalities in Qatar and contributing to the development of relations between them, and the representation of the communities. His Excellency also praised the role of the committee in studying national legislation and making recommendations to ensure its compatibility with international standards, and implementing programs to raise awareness of the culture of human rights, especially for workers in the law enforcement sector. Al-Jamali touched on the most important national legislation recommended by the National Human Rights Committee. He noted the issuance of Decree Nos 40 and 41 of 2018 regarding Qatar's accession to the two International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the establishment of a special committee to study national legislation in light of the ratification of the two Covenants. He gave an explanation about the committee for the settlement of labor disputes, which specialises in adjudicating individual disputes arising from the application of the provisions of the Labour Law or the employment contract. The committee decides on labour disputes within three weeks from the date of the first session to consider the dispute before it.