Actions against Qatar 'boycott' not 'blockade': UAE UN representative

CAIRO – 15 September 2017: UAE Permanent Representative to the UN, Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, said actions taken by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are legitimate sovereign decisions.

In a Thursday statement issued on behalf of the four countries in response to a speech by Qatar's representative during a dialogue held by the Human Rights Council, Al Zaabi denied that the decisions are not in any way deemed a "blockade", but rather a "boycott".

"The boycott was motivated by the damage caused by Qatar’s irresponsible behavior in supporting, funding and providing shelter to terrorists and terrorist organizations, which is what pushed our countries to make the decision to boycott Qatar,'' Al Zaabi Said during the 36th regulation session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.

"We welcome this discussion session, while again stressing our condemnation of imposing forced measures, as they contradict international laws and violate human rights.

"Under this framework and in response to the speeches of Qatar’s representative and Jean Ziegler, Advisory Committee Member, we again stress that the action taken by our four countries are legitimate sovereign decisions that are not in any way a 'blockade,' but rather a 'boycott' that resulted from the damage caused by Qatar’s irresponsible behavior in supporting, funding and providing shelter to terrorists and terrorist organizations, which is what pushed our countries to make the decision to boycott Qatar,'' he added.

"If the Qatari people were aggrieved by what the Qatari representative has called a 'blockade by boycotting countries', how can he explain the statements of senior officials from his country that Qatar and its citizens have not been affected by the severing of diplomatic relations, and that life in Qatar is still normal? "In our opinion, these contradictions, which always exist in Qatar's policies, reveal the double-standards of his speech, as Qatari officials have made a different speech for their own country, and another speech to mislead international public opinion and hide the true causes of the crisis, while everyone knows that Qatar supports terrorism and funds terrorist organizations,'' he further added.

"It is unfortunate that the Qatari delegation has raised this topic for the second time today. If it proves anything, it only proves that Qatar has no honest intention of reviewing its policies and stances, which support terrorism and extremism," he concluded