His Highness The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, participated in the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly held yesterday in New York City, in the presence of a number of Their Highnesses and Excellencies Heads of States, Governments and delegations as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.

H.H. the Amir emphasised on resolving conflicts through negotiations and expediting the reforms required for the United Nations organisations.

Qatar has emerged a stronger nation in spite of the unjust siege imposed on it more than a year ago and the country has maintained its leading rankings in global indicators, especially in the areas of human security and development, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al -Thani said on Tuesday.

Participating in the General Debate of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Amir said since the blockade, many facts have been revealed about a pre-arranged campaign of incitement against Qatar beside the insinuation and fabrications used to create the Gulf crisis.

He said the international community has recognised the falsity of the allegations that had been propagated "against my country to justify the premeditated measures taken under the pretext of these invented and untrue allegations, in a flagrant violation of the international law and the basis of relations between nations, and the values and norms of our peoples".

The Amir said despite all the measures taken to inflict harm on Qatar's security and stability, and create hardships for its people in addition to the economic warfare launched to hinder its development process, yet the period that followed the unjust siege has witnessed the strengthening of the status of Qatar and consolidation of its role as an active partner in the regional and international arenas.

Peaceful settlement of disputes

H.H. The Amir stated that Qatar's economy continued its growth as a proof of its vigour and consistency. Qatar has also maintained its advanced and leading rankings vis-a-vis the countries of the region in global indicators, especially in the areas of human security and human development. "This has strengthened the Qatari people's faith in their potentials, values and principles, and cemented cohesion of their unity."

Advocating the necessity of peaceful settlement of disputes, he said:

Qatar is open to all the appreciated efforts of brotherly and friendly nations to end the crisis "through an unconditional dialogue based on mutual respect for the sovereignty of nations".

The Amir said it is not reasonable that differences in views about handling some regional issues lead to paralysing the effectiveness of an important regional organisation such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). "The blockade on Qatar has harmed the reputation of the GCC countries, and the ensuing paralysis has reflected negatively on the Councils' aspired role towards regional and global issues.

"We hope that we will all transform the Council's current plight into an opportunity for reforming it and putting forward binding mechanisms to resolve the differences among its states through intra-dialogue, to avoid any similar recurrence in the future. It is not sensible for our Arab region to remain a hostage to some marginal differences, which are fabricated in our case, and which consume efforts and energies and waste funds exceeding what we need to allocate to the just causes that are supposed to be agreed upon by us."

"In our view, there are necessary prerequisites to make the war on terrorism achieve its goal and not to turn into a self-contained goal:

1. International cooperation in combating violence resulting from extremism and violence directed against civilians to terrorise them and to damage civilian facilities for political ends. These phenomena must be addressed firmly and rigorously.

2. Unifying the standards of fighting terrorism so as its definition does not selectively depend on the religious or ethnic identity of the perpetrator.

3. Addressing its roots and causes and researching in the political, social and cultural backgrounds that contribute to its breeding, and working earnestly to achieve just settlements of lingering issues that feed the feelings of anger and frustration.

4. Avoid giving partisan connotation to the term terrorism through tailoring it to fit into the narrow interests of some nations by using it to justify tyranny and repression of political opponents, which affects the credibility of combating terrorism and harms the international efforts exerted thereof.

Qatar believes that educating youth and their comprehensive participation represents the first line of defense for the collective security system and an important factor in fighting terrorism and building peace and stability, he said.

"Human development and the protection and promotion of human rights are in the forefront of the priorities of the State of Qatar which pursues its efforts at the legislative and institutional levels to implement its National Vision 2030 that emphasises human development."

Cyber security of nations

Talking about the importance of effective rules to regulate the cyber world, His Highness the Amir said modern life has become inconceivable without information and digital technology and digital means of communication.

"However, a series of events recently experienced by several countries reminded us that new needs have emerged that were previously unknown, such as the freedom of access, and the need to protect the private sphere of citizens from the risk of hacking. It also alerted us to the cyber security of nations. These are cross-border issues because of the nature of the technology itself. Accordingly, it is necessary to regulate dealing with these issues and control their risks internationally.

"Qatar and other countries have suffered from digital piracy and digital espionage, and that has prompted us to strongly emphasise this issue and to be willing to work with United Nations organisations to regulate it legally. We propose convening an international conference to examine ways to have this matter regulated by international law. We express our readiness to host this conference."

Read more: H.H. The Amir's speech at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly: The highlights

(Cover image credit: QNA, News source: QNA, www.gulf-times.com)

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Khadiza Begum

Content Writer

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