Correction to news reports appearing in Qatari media

GENEVA (30 June 2017) - The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday that it regrets the appearance of inaccurate accounts in Qatari media of a meeting held on Thursday between UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar at the United Nations in Geneva.

While confirming the meeting did take place, the UN Human Rights Office said reports appearing in the Qatari media significantly distort the remarks of the High Commissioner.

The position of the UN Human Rights Office on various aspects of the dispute between Qatar and four other countries in the region are contained in the following two items:

1)   A ‘Comment’ issued by the High Commissioner on 14 June 2017
2)   A press briefing conducted by the UN Human Rights Office’s Spokesperson on 30 June 2017

The UN Human Rights Office does not normally comment on bilateral meetings with States, except on the rare occasions when it believes the State concerned has publicly misrepresented the content of the meeting.

ENDS

You can read the ‘Comment’ issued by the High Commissioner on 14 June 2017 here

You can read the press briefing notes of 30 June 2017 here

For more information, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org)

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