Source: Government of Qatar
Doha, November 16, 2025
The first consultative session to prepare the National Human Rights Action Plan (2026-2030) convened in Doha Sunday.
The session was attended by HE President of the Supreme Judiciary Council and President of the Court of Cassation Dr. Hassan bin Lahdan Al Hassan Al Mohannadi, HE Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ibrahim bin Ali Al Mohannadi, HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, HE Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, and HE Chairperson of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Maryam bint Abdullah Al Attiyah.
Also attending were several officials and representatives of government agencies and national institutions, as well as a top tier of experts and representatives of civil society.
The session is intended to weigh in on the key themes of this action plan, identify challenges and gaps, and listen to the attendees’ views and feedback that would literally help prepare a holistic plan that reflects the community’s needs and aspirations.
Overall, the session features bountiful deliberations that highlight the priorities for the upcoming period within the national framework for human rights.
In her opening remarks, HE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairperson of the national committee for preparing the National Human Rights Action Plan Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad welcomed the participants, affirming that their participation underscores the State of Qatar’s enduring commitment to the values of human dignity, justice, equality, and the rule of law, values that essentially shape the essence of Islamic Sharia, Qatar’s Permanent Constitution, and Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV2030).
The preparation of this plan is neither a procedural action nor a tradition the world simply intends to pursue, but rather a national vision that expresses the collective will to bolster the system of rights and freedoms and the principles that place humans at the core of development and its aims, HE Al Misnad underscored.
She added that from this position the plan, which needs invaluable contributions in terms of preparation and execution, represents a practical road map that primarily aims to transform values into legislation and policies and principles into measurable realistic practices, and at the end of the day human rights become a guiding approach in planning and crafting public policies in a variety of fields.
The move, she adds, comes in the wake of accelerating challenges the world is witnessing today in terms of climate change and digital transformation, as well as the resulting complexities that affect people’s lives and daily affairs.
HE Al Misnad noted the Doha Political Declaration issued at the Second World Summit for Social Development 2025, which underscores the inextricable link between achieving social justice and reinforcing respect for human rights.
The declaration, she said, calls for a rights based approach to shaping and advancing social policies, upholding the rule of law and good governance, ensuring unencumbered access to justice, and building effective institutions. It also emphasizes broadening community participation for all stakeholders so that development remains human centered, affirming that social protection is a right, not a largesse.
This plan represents an opportunity to translate the substance of the Declaration at the national level and to embody the nation’s commitment to social justice and the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs anchored in human dignity, justice, and solidarity both domestically and within the international community, she points out.
Al Misnad further noted that the committee responsible for drafting this plan is laser focused on ensuring that the drafting process is grounded in five core principles, chiefly the universality, indivisibility, complementarity, and interdependence of human rights.
This is literally the approach that binds their promotion, protection, and fulfillment to the shared religious, human, constitutional, and international values that underpin them, and to transparency and openness in sharing information and assessing the current landscape with all its achievements and challenges, and to broad based partnership and community participation through the engagement of state institutions, civil society, the private sector, academia, the media, and all stakeholders, reaffirming the principle of leaving no one behind, she outlines.
Al Misnad stressed that institutional integration is essential to ensure the effective execution of the agreed upon actions, supported by continuous follow up and periodic evaluation to refine performance and safeguard the sustainability of the gains that have been achieved.
In addition, Her Excellency expressed her profound belief that these five principles serve as a springboard for crafting a realistic, actionable, and impact sustained National Plan, one that stands in lockstep with QNV2030, which places the human being at the core of development, and with the Third National Development Strategy 2024-2030, which foregrounds good governance, human empowerment, and the preservation of social justice within a balanced national framework.
The aspiration is for this plan to emerge as a unifying document that captures the shared vision of both the nation and society and becomes a national role model rooted in rights based planning, Her Excellency noted.
She elaborated that the success of these consultative sessions hinges on engagement, constructive criticism, unencumbered reflections, inspiring ideas, and insightful proposals. This collective input, she highlights, will flip the script from mere textual commitments to a results driven plan whose impact is concrete in people’s lives, not confined to rhetoric.
Al Misnad extended her profound gratitude to all partners from ministries, governmental and national bodies, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector for their support and their engagement that is capped by success.
Her Excellency further extended her profound gratitude to global partners for their steadfast engagement and for lending depth to this national endeavor, affirming that she looks forward to the outcomes of their constructive dialogue that confidently redound to the benefit of the cherished nation and valued society.
Through collective effort, human rights are firmly anchored within the nation and the future of the coming generations is safeguarded, she stated.
The assigned committee underscored that convening this session forms part of a participatory approach that reinforces transparency and ensures the broad inclusion of all relevant stakeholders in shaping the plan.
This aligns with the Permanent Constitution of Qatar, QNV2030, the Third National Development Strategy, and international human rights standards.
The committee noted that the session reconvenes Monday to continue discussions on the remaining pillars of this plan. It adds that additional thematic and forward looking sessions are held to guarantee the engagement of all segments of society in the formulation process, a step intended to ensure that no one is left behind and that the effort is capped by success in every conceivable way.
