International Court of Justice rejects Qatar’s case against UAE in final judgement

The International Criminal Court of Justice rejected the case brought by Qatar accusing the UAE of discrimination during the Gulf dispute which has since been resolved.

Qatar filed the case in 2018 saying the UAE’s actions during the rift breached the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a UN treaty.

The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, had severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism – a charge Doha denied.

The Gulf dispute has been resolved and restrictions on Qatar were lifted at AlUla summit in January. The UAE reopened its borders to Qatar days later.

The ICJ said it “upholds the first preliminary objection raised by the UAE” and “finds it has no jurisdictions to entertain the application filed by Qatar.”

Qatar’s application said: “The UAE had enacted and implemented a series of discriminatory measures directed at Qataris based expressly on their national origin,” resulting in alleged human rights violations.

ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said in The Hague the UAE’s measures “are not capable of constituting racial discrimination within the meaning of the convention.”

Last Update: Thursday, 04 February 2021 KSA 19:27 – GMT 16:27