(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A conference on the role of national leadership towards the siege has stressed on the importance of forming emergency teams to deal with crises in different institutions.
The teams would also establish hotlines for parties affected by the crises to report.
They would also develop national strategies to absorb any shocks resulting from the crises.
The conference, held in Doha on Monday, will present its resolutions to Qatar Leadership Centers Alumni Association Council (the organisers of the event).
The conference discussed the economic, social and media aspects of the Qatar siege. It also discussed the role of national leaderships in dealing with the siege.
In the session that discussed the economic aspects of dealing with the crisis, HE the Assistant Undersecretary for the Consumer Protection Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Sheikh Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani, discussed the ministry's role in facing the siege in terms of lack of supply of some products, commercial fraud and the black market.
He said that the crisis revealed the strength of the Qatari economy and the private sector has led the way 90% of the time.
Sheikh Jassim added that there were partnerships with 88 countries that Qatar can import stably from, contributing to finding alternatives that more than covered the shortages.
There was also ample strategic stock of food products, basic materials, and even animal feed that was relied upon to deal with the crisis.
He said a logistics committee was formed to facilitate the arrival of shipments at ports. A regulatory team was also formed to monitor the market and resolve any issues for suppliers. The emergency plan focused on stabilising the market.
The state initially intervened swiftly and then retreated gradually to pave the way for the private sector to regain its place in the market, while taking strict measures to stabilise prices.
Director of Hamad Port Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Yafei spoke about the port's role in dealing with the crisis and how the committee charged with operating the facilities helped alleviate the severity of the siege, before neutralising its effect little by little.
The port's strategy focuses on developing maritime transport and turning it into an international logistics centre that can rely on its own and develop by providing the latest equipment and systems.
He said that this would help support the economy and encourage investment.
He noted that the siege countries took a number of measures that were disappointing and were considered a violation, including not allowing ships to dock in their ports.
They also avoided providing fuel to the ships and preventing foreign ships dealing with Qatar from obtaining entry/exit permits.
Another measure was holding up the containers they had before the crisis, which led to a slight panic that was swiftly dealt with.
He said that the communication with the Sultanate of Oman to open its ports to Qatari containers and products facilitated the entry and exit of some of products.
In the session that discussed the social aspect of the crisis, Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Foundation for Social Work Amal Abdullatif al-Mannai said that the primary goal of the siege was political yet it was implemented by trying to cause a social fracture.
It also attempted to deal a blow to family cohesion by spreading fears and targeting weak segments such as women, children, the elderly, people with disability, and orphans.
It also focused on undermining the strategic and sustainable plans of social protection, especially that the State of Qatar has made big strides in that field.
She noted that the Qatar Foundation for Social Work and other civil society organisations work on a daily basis to deal with the social impacts of the siege on human development projects.
She noted that the foundation plans to implement 40 projects concerned with social protection.
The foundation co-ordinated with the Ministry of Interior, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), and the Government Communications Office to co-operate in managing the crisis.
Al-Mannai added that one of the first steps the foundation took since the emergence of the crisis was to establish a hotline (919) to receive the calls of those affects.
It also dedicated specialists, psychologists and legal counsellors and proposed that all institutions establish emergency team to deal with emergency cases.
She highlighted the training workshops that Qatar Red Crescent holds on crisis management.
The foundation also proposed integrating social protection projects into the comprehensive strategy in that field.
For his part, Assistant Secretary-General of the NHRC Sultan bin Hassan al-Jamali discussed the role of the committee since the first day of the crisis in establishing a round-the-clock committee to manage the crisis.
The committee so far recorded close to 13,300 people who were affected by the siege.
He noted that the committee also classified all violations based on their type with it was the right to freedom of movement, religious practice, inciting violence, access to healthcare, and access to education.
Al-Jamali noted that the committee received complaints through e-mail, hotline, and written complaints delivered to its headquarters.
The NHRC also raised the complaints to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He said that Qatar did not receive any complaints from organisations in the three countries regarding the human rights of their citizens residing in Qatar, which confirms that the State of Qatar did not engage in reciprocity.
Dean of Qatar University's College of Law Dr Mohamed al-Khulaifi spoke about the legal aspects of the siege in the view of international law.
He noted that there were 13 clear violations of the principles of international law.
He said that no sovereign country has the right to infringe on the sovereignty of another country.
No entity also has any right to interfere in internal affairs, a state's internal or foreign policies regarding a specific issue.
He noted that a large number of the freedoms mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were violated, including the freedom of religious practice.
No country can prevent Muslims from carrying out religious practices or from entering holy places.
He noted that there were incidents harassment of a number Qatari citizens on Umrah, in addition to the rights of family reunion, access to education, transport, and freedom of speech.
He also noted that the aerial and marine siege was in clear violation to the Chicago Convention of 1944 and the Law of the Sea of 1982.
Al-Khulaifi noted that there are three policies that the state can adopt.
The first would be political and not legislative, where Qatar would demand negotiations and dialogue. This is what took place since the beginning of the crisis, he added.
The second would be mediation efforts, which Kuwait has undertaken.
The third is the legal option and approaching the International Court of Justice and the Security Council.
He said that the third option was unlikely as the all the parties in conflict must accept that route for it to proceed.
He praised the establishment of a Qatari committee to demand damages for the impact of the siege.
As for the media element, Jaber al-Hurmi, Ilham Badr, and Abdulaziz al-Ishaq discussed how the crisis had a clear focus on the media.
This was clear as the crisis preluded with the hacking of the website of Qatar News Agency (QNA), after that media campaigns that relied on fabrications and lies began.
Meanwhile, the rhetoric of Qatari media was harmonious and offered the viewpoints of foreigners and responded to the campaigns with a degree of integrity and a focus on fact-checking.
The Qatari media also did not fall in the trap of exchanging insults and aggression that was carried out by the siege countries.
Children, family, and sports-dedicated channels did not discuss political developments, unlike its counterparts in the siege region.
The speakers also discussed ways to benefit from the crisis by forming an exceptional case were the Qatari society can deal calmly with the attacks by relying on itself in correcting the picture to the outside world.
They stressed that Qatari media did not resort to unprofessional measures adopted by the media of the siege countries to hire writers and media personalities to be their voice or defend their interests.
The participants noted that there were 220 reports done to respond to the siege countries.
There were also a total of 70 media personalities who appeared on different TV channels to discuss the matter.
That is in addition to Qataris defending their country's position on social media.
The speakers concluded that the Qatari media solidarity was not a result of the GCC crisis, but of the Arab Spring as there was a Qatari sympathy with these revolutions which led to a sense of optimism and political engagement in many regional and international efforts.
This development had a great impact on the harmony seen between different media outlets.
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