Freedom in the World 2010 - Qatar

Capital: Doha
Population: 1,409,000

Political Rights Score: 6 *
Civil Liberties Score: 5 *
Status: Not Free

Overview

Five years after agreeing to hold legislative elections for the Consultative Council, Qatar again failed to do so in 2009. As a result of government pressure, the director of the Doha Center for Media Freedom, an institution devoted to promoting free speech and protecting journalists, resigned in July.

Qatar gained independence from Britain in 1971. The following year, Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani deposed his cousin, Emir Ahmad bin Ali al-Thani, and ruled until 1995 as an absolute monarch, with few government institutions checking his authority. In 1995, the emir was deposed by his son, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who began a program of gradual political, social, and economic reforms. Hamad dissolved the Ministry of Information shortly after taking power, an action designed to demonstrate his commitment to expanding press freedom.

In 1996, Hamad permitted the creation of Al-Jazeera, which has become one of the most popular Arabic-language satellite television channels in the Middle East. However, Al-Jazeera generally does not cover Qatari politics and focuses instead on regional issues.

Elections were held in 1999 for a 29-member Central Municipal Council, a body designed to advise the minister of municipal affairs and agriculture. The poll made Qatar the first state of the Gulf Cooperation Council to introduce universal suffrage for men and women over 18 years of age. Hamad also accelerated a program to build Qatar's educational institutions, inviting foreign universities to establish branches in the country.

Central Municipal Council elections were held again in 2003. Also that year, Qatari voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution that slightly broadened the scope of political participation without eliminating the monopoly on power enjoyed by the ruling family. Most rights in the new constitution do not apply to noncitizen residents, who form a majority of the population.

In 2007, citizens again voted for the Central Municipal Council, choosing 29 members from 125 candidates. One woman was elected. Turnout reached 51 percent, a considerable improvement over 2003, when just 30 percent of the eligible electorate voted. In July 2008, the emir appointed a new cabinet that included two women.

Qatar has hosted U.S. military forces for a number of years, and the U.S. presence grew significantly after 2001. The country has faced severe criticism in the region for its ties to the United States and its tentative links with Israel.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Qatar is not an electoral democracy. The head of state is the emir, currently Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, whose family has a monopoly on political power. The emir appoints a prime minister and cabinet. The constitution states that the emir appoints an heir after consulting with the ruling family and other notables. Voters elect local government representatives with limited powers over municipal services; these representatives report to the appointed minister of municipal affairs and agriculture. Under the constitution, which was ratified by public referendum in 2003 and promulgated by the emir in 2004, elections are to be held for 30 of the 45 seats in a new Consultative Council; the emir has the power to appoint the other 15 members. However, the elections had yet to be held at the end of 2009. The existing 35-member Consultative Council is entirely appointed.

Only a small percentage of the country's population – about 200,000 people out of 1,409,000 residents – is permitted to vote or hold office. The government does not permit the existence of political parties.

Although critics have complained of a lack of transparency in government procurement, Qatar was ranked 22 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, making it the best performer in the Middle East.

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression. However, content in the print and broadcast media is influenced by leading families, and journalists practice a high degree of self-censorship. Reporters face possible jail sentences for slander. The top five daily newspapers are privately owned, but their owners and boards include members of the ruling family. In July 2009, Robert Menard, the director of the Doha Center for Media Freedom – an institution launched in 2008 to promote freedom of speech and protect embattled journalists – resigned claiming government pressure. Although the satellite television channel Al-Jazeera is privately owned, the government has reportedly paid operating costs for the channel since its inception. As a result, Al-Jazeera rarely criticizes the ruling family. Qataris have access to the internet, but the government censors content and blocks access to sites that are deemed pornographic or politically sensitive.

Islam is Qatar's official religion. However, the 2004 constitution explicitly provides for freedom of worship. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs regulates clerical matters and the construction of mosques. The first of six churches to be built for Qatar's Christian community was opened in Doha in March 2008, and the remaining five were still under construction at the end of 2009. The constitution guarantees freedom of opinion and academic research, but scholars often practice self-censorship on politically sensitive topics.

While the constitution grants freedom of assembly and the right to form nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), these rights are limited in practice. Protests are rare, with the government restricting the public's ability to organize demonstrations. All NGOs need state permission to operate, and the government closely monitors the activities of these groups. After hosting the 2007 Conference on Democracy and Reform in Doha, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established the Arab Foundation for Democracy to monitor progress on reform in the region. Sheikh Hamad has contributed $10 million to the foundation. There are no independent human rights organizations, but a National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), consisting of members of civil society and government ministries, has done some work on investigating alleged abuses.

A 2005 labor law expanded some protections for citizens, but it prohibits noncitizen workers from forming labor unions. Foreign nationals make up most of the workforce, but fear of job loss and deportation often prevents them from exercising what rights they have. Many foreign workers face economic abuses like the withholding of salaries or contract manipulation, while others endure poor living conditions and excessive work hours. Worker complaints have included charges as serious as torture, imprisonment, and forced labor. Foreign construction workers have repeatedly demonstrated against poor living and working conditions. Female domestic servants are particularly vulnerable to abuse and are often lured or forced into prostitution. In March 2008, the government announced plans to build a "worker's city" for 50,000 laborers near Doha in an effort to improve the living and health conditions of foreign workers. Although some infrastructure construction was completed by July 2009, the project was put on hold in December.

Despite constitutional guarantees, the judiciary is not independent in practice. The majority of Qatar's judges are foreign nationals who are appointed and removed by the emir. The judicial system consists of Sharia (Islamic law) courts, which have jurisdiction over a narrow range of issues including family law, and civil law courts, which have jurisdiction over criminal cases as well as commercial and civil suits. The Supreme Judiciary Council regulates the judiciary. The constitution protects individuals from arbitrary arrest and detention and bans torture. However, a 2002 law allows the suspension of these guarantees for the "protection of society." The law empowers the minister of the interior to detain a defendant for crimes related to national security on the recommendation of the director-general of public security.

The government discriminates against noncitizens in education, housing, health care, and other services that are offered free of charge to citizens. In March 2009, the government worked with local religious leaders in an outreach campaign aimed at raising awareness of the moral and legal implications of human trafficking. Qatar has also attempted to restrict visas for suspected prostitutes trying to enter the country, but enforcement remains inconsistent.

The constitution treats women as full and equal persons, and discrimination based on sex, country of origin, language, or religion is banned. In 2006, Qatar implemented a codified family law, which regulates issues important for women, including inheritance, child custody, marriage, and divorce. While the law offers more protections for women than they enjoyed previously, they continue to face some disadvantages, including societal discrimination, and few effective legal mechanisms are available for them to contest incidents of bias.

*Countries are ranked on a scale of 1-7, with 1 representing the highest level of freedom and 7 representing the lowest level of freedom.