Ever since the illegal siege of Qatar began on June 5, Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has played a huge role in letting the world know of injustices done to the country’s people by blockading nations.   

Obviously, NHRC’s success in highlighting the issues did not sit well with those from the blockading nations and they had been trying hard to discredit the NHRC. Recently, they tried to downgrade the NHRC’s position with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and it backfired spectacularly, reported Gulf Times. 

GANHRI soundly rejected a request by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to get the NHRC downgraded, said its chairman Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.

The International Accreditation Committee underlined that since the beginning of the Gulf crisis, the NHRC had played its part in protection and promotion of human rights in accordance with the Paris Principles that govern the work of national human rights institutions, reported The Peninsula.
The siege countries had filed a joint complaint on August 7 against NHRC at the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights at the secretariat of the International Accreditation Committee.

The blockading countries had demanded that appropriate action be taken to freeze the membership of NHRC in the list of national human rights institutions, and called for a reclassification of the committee's ‘A’ rank and downgrade and review of all activities of the NHRC before and during the crisis, according to Qatar Tribune.

In a statement, NHRC Chairman Al Marri said the decision to reject the blockading nations’ application was a remedy for the victims of the siege and support for their cause.
“It’s a victory not only for the NHRC, but also for all national human rights institutions and human rights defenders around the world. It’s also a testimony to the high esteem in which the NHRC is held, and an affirmation of its independence and the credibility of its work,” he said.

The NHRC had spoken out loudly and clearly about the effect the illegal siege had on families in the region, with it estimating that at least 13,000 people had been affected.