Human Rights Watch said in a report yesterday that Qatar's decision to arbitrarily withdraw its nationality from families of the al-Ghufran clan left some members of the clan without citizenship for 20 years and denied them basic rights, decent work rights, access to health care, Education, marriage, family formation, property and freedom of movement.
Residents in Qatar face restrictions on opening bank accounts and driving licenses, are arbitrarily detained, and are also deprived of a range of government benefits available to Qatari nationals, such as government jobs, Food and energy support, and free health care.
"The Qatari government should end the suffering of those who are stateless immediately, and give them, and those who have since acquired other nationalities, a clear path towards the restoration of their Qatari nationality," said Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, Lama Fakih.
The organization interviewed nine members of three stateless families from the Ghufran clan living in Qatar and another from a fourth family living in Saudi Arabia. The families together comprise 28 stateless persons.
"I do not have any property in my name, no home, no income, no health card, and I can not even open a bank account, as if I do not have it, when I get sick instead," said a 56-year-old man who had withdrawn his nationality with his five children in 2004. Going to a doctor or hospital is a pain-free place. "
The organization said that on April 29 the Qatari Ministry of Interior had expressed its concern about the status of the Al-Ghufran clan, but the letter was not answered until the report was issued yesterday, and told many representatives of the organized clan that the measures against them amounted to collective punishment, They confirmed that they had no second nationality when they withdrew their Qatari nationality and that no official or written contact had been received to explain the reason for the withdrawal of their nationality or the opportunity to appeal.
The persons interviewed by the organization sought to conceal their identity for fear of retaliation by the Qatari government. They confirmed that they had relied on the assistance of sympathetic persons to cover their basic needs because they lacked valid identity documents and had to reside in other Gulf countries and were unable to maintain a stable income , And fought to live a decent life.
Three stateless families living in Qatar said that all the houses they had inhabited since the withdrawal of citizenship had been donated by charities or their relatives. None of the children who had withdrawn their nationality before the age of 18 had been able to pursue higher education, obtain decent work, marry and establish Families, and the only identification documents for many of those interviewed by the organization were expired passports, identity cards and national health cards; in some cases, copies of them.
The report notes that for the younger generation, these documents are rarely useful because their photographs were taken when they were young children or adolescents. Those who were born after the withdrawal of the nationality of their families have only birth certificates from different Gulf countries, many of which show the nationalities of the parents as Qatari.
Activists from Al-Ghufran explained that because of the lack of transparency associated with Qatar's citizenship policy, fear and suspicion are spreading in their community. "Those who have regained their nationality are afraid to speak frankly because they fear losing it again," one woman said.
Those who had withdrawn their citizenship before the age of 18 could not pursue higher education, even if their families could pay higher international fees. The "restriction of the right to travel" was the main complaint of the interviewee. Rami, 33, Old age when the Qatari authorities withdrew his nationality from him and his family of nine. Traveling inside Qatar is difficult because he and his brothers were unable to obtain driving licenses without a valid identification document. "Some of us have never seen an airplane from within."
Abdul Aziz, 34, said that his family had been stripped of their nationality in 1996 and had been forced to leave Qatar in 2002 and that they had been deprived of their property, including their homes in Qatar. In 2005, after the family left, his father was forced to sell the house, otherwise he would face the prospect of government confiscation.
The three families interviewed by the organization live in homes donated by charities or relatives who retain their Qatari nationality. Family members have confirmed that they face restrictions on buying and owning real estate, opening bank accounts, and even buying telephone lines and the Internet. Shortly after their return to Qatar, The mother of Rami, who regained her nationality a few years ago, said she had returned to her family's old home to see him and discovered that the authorities had handed him over to another family. Rami's family now lives in a house donated by his siblings.
According to media reports, reports from the US State Department and the National Human Rights Commission, in 2004 the Qatari government stripped 5,000 to 6,000 people of their nationality. According to one estimate, some of them lost their jobs immediately. Some were arrested, deported and removed. And others who were outside the country were denied entry.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is scheduled to conduct its third review of Qatar's Universal Periodic Review, the day after tomorrow. In the past two years, activists of forgiveness have appealed to the Human Rights Council to help restore the lost rights of their clan. The case is in a joint paper submitted to the review by the Global Campaign for Equal Rights of Citizenship, the Institute for Statelessness and Integration and the Center for the Exercise of Rights.
• One of those deprived of Qatari nationality: "I have no income or property. When I get sick, I take a pain-free home."
• Three stateless families living in Qatar: "We live in houses donated by charities or our relatives."