Category Archives: In the News

In the News 12-28-2008

Qatarisation plan must be put on hold: experts

THE Ministry of Labour should suspend its programme of Qatarisation of jobs until a well-trained cadre of young Qatari men and women is available, participants in a seminar have unanimously urged.

The seminar on ‘Nationalisation of Jobs’ was organised by the Institute for Administrative Development in Doha, local Arabic daily Arrayah reports.

The participants said that until such a cadre of national youth emerged in the job market the policy of Qatarisation of jobs was nothing but “deadwood employment” because the incumbents were not equipped for the positions to which they were appointed.

The whole issue had to be studied carefully and there was an urgent need to work from the grassroots so as to evolve courses of study from the school to the university level in keeping with requirements of the job market, said the experts and representatives from the government and private sectors who took part in the discussions.

The yawning gap between the number of expatriates and nationals employed in diverse fields would remain until a strategic plan was chalked out and implemented, they said.

As many as 20,000 expatriates are employed every year compared to only 2,000 nationals.

The participants called for the setting up of a national body for the development of human resources. This body should among other things address the problem of evolving courses of study required for the job market. It should provide vital inputs to the Qatar Foundation and the University of Qatar so as to help them in planning the academic curriculum accordingly.

Among the notable speakers at the seminar was Dr Hind Joulu, director of finance and administration at the university. She said: “In the employment of nationals the emphasis seems to be on quantity and not quality. We need to carry out in-depth studies to identify the reasons for the failure of the policy of nationalisation of jobs.”

l A committee report says the pattern of Qatar’s indigenous population growth during the last three decades points to two disturbing trends: a declining fertility rate among women and a rise in the average age at which Qataris marry.

Arrayah has published the report released by the technical team of the standing committee on population highlighting various aspects of population growth in Qatar.

The report says the fertility rate among Qatari women has fallen from 5.7 in 1990 to 4 in 2007; and the average age at which Qataris marry is 26.4 years for men and 23.6 for women.

These trends do not augur well for a healthy growth of the indigenous population which is already low, the report says.

There has however been a significant increase in the indigenous population since the beginning of 2006 as a result of the grant of citizenship to a large number of expatriate men and women.

Giving statistics on deaths resulting from accidents, the report states that 81% of those who died in road accidents during the last year were Qatari nationals in the 15-24 age group. However, the number of expatriates who die in accidents at their workplace is very high in comparison to nationals.

The mortality rate among Qataris under 15 years is higher than for expatriates in that age group. The mortality rate for expatriates aged 25 to 59 is much higher than among Qatari nationals (64% and 26% respectively). However, at age 60 and above the rate is higher among Qataris than expatriates (48% and 14% respectively), the report says.

Highlighting the importance of the report, committee chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor al-Thani said that it would help in working out strategic plans for the development of the population structure and in determining the country’s needs in the fields of health, education and social care.

via Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper – Qatar.

In the News 12-22-2008

Divorce bid for girl, 8, is rejected

via Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper – Gulf/Arab World.

RIYADH: A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty, a lawyer involved said.

“The judge has dismissed the plea (filed by the mother) because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty,” lawyer Abdullah Jtili said in a telephone interview after Saturday’s court decision.

The divorce plea was filed in August by the girl’s divorced mother with a court at Unayzah, 220km north of Riyadh, just after the marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.

“She doesn’t know yet that she has been married,” Jtili said then of the girl who was about to begin her fourth year at primary school.

Relatives who did not wish to be named said the marriage had not yet been consummated, and that the girl continued to live with her mother. They said that the father had set a verbal condition by which the marriage is not consummated for another 10 years, when the girl turns 18.

The father had agreed to marry off his daughter for an advance dowry of 30,000 riyals ($8,000), as he was apparently facing financial problems, they said.

The father was in court and he remained adamant in favour of the marriage, they added.

Lawyer Jtili said he was going to appeal the verdict at the court of cassation, the supreme court. – AFP

Qatar National Day

Qatar ready to celebrate

By Arvind Nair

THE entire population, including nationals and expatriates, is awaiting today’s National Day celebrations with a lot of excitement and anticipation.

Never before in the country’s history so many people may have looked forward to the National Day with so much enthusiasm. It is not surprising either since the day is packed with activities of different nature, targeted at different segments of the population.

The programmes include not only those strictly designed to entertain and amuse people but also to evoke patriotism and pride in the country’s heritage and history.

The National Day is dedicated to the revered memory of the founder ruler, Sheikh Jassim bin Mohamed bin Thani al-Thani, the tribal ruler who stood up against the big powers towards the end of the 19th century and achieved statehood for Qatar.

He led Qatari tribes and fought a decisive battle against Ottoman troops at Wajba on March 25, 1893. That was a turning point in the history of the region. The day is also in remembrance of the nation’s forefathers and the sacrifices they made.

On December 18, 1878, Sheikh Jassim took over the reins of leadership following the death of his father, Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani.

The Qatar National Day Organising Committee (QNOC) has striven this year to mount events that are rooted in the history and directly connected with the identity and special culture.

Among the important events that will be held along the Corniche is a military parade that will portray Qatari camel riders in their traditional uniforms, in addition to the cars and vehicles of the Qatari Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, Internal Security Forces (Lekhwiya) and Emiri Guard. This parade will take place today at 9.30am and will depict Qatar’s military history during various periods.

An exciting light and water show and a giant fireworks extravaganza will take place at the Corniche at 5pm. Beautiful lightings illuminate buildings and trees along the Corniche and historic scenes of Qatar’s cultural past will be broadcast on 10 giant water screens positioned in Doha Bay.

At 9pm a pyro-musical extravaganza will light up the sky over the Corniche and Doha Bay.

In an effort to ensure the safety of the public, the organising committee has taken several steps including closing of the Corniche area today from the morning and until the end of the military parade.

There will be a parking ban on the Corniche to avoid traffic jams. Various designated parking lots for the public will be available in the surrounding areas of the Corniche.

Ten Karwa buses will be available to transport the public from designated parking lots to the Corniche area where events are held. Many bus stations and family buses will be provided.

Five medical emergency and missing children sites will be set up during the events.

“We urge families and the public to be careful and to closely watch their children to make sure they stay away from equipment and tools used during the show,” the committee said.

Following the military parade, the public can watch the historic military car and vehicle parade near the Orry on the Corniche.

The city has already gone into a celebratory mode with hundreds of flags adding colour to the streets and buildings, and illumination lighting up public and private institutions.

The public has already joined in the mood with hundreds of them sporting miniature flags and stickers on their vehicles.

More information is available by accessing www.ndqatar.com.

n Qatar residents can expect a pleasant weather today though the forecast says the sky will be partly cloudy. The weatherman has forecast moderate temperature for the day with slight dust haze. There is a possibility of scattered rain.

The maximum temperature will be 19C while the minimum will be 13 degrees.

via Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper – First Page.

In the News

This one just doesn’t make sense to me.  There has to be more to this story.

Kiss lands pair in court

A MAN and a woman have appeared in a Doha court after being charged over a kiss on the cheek. They are facing charges of indecent behaviour in public. A third person from the group has been charged with drinking alcohol.
The incident occurred while the woman was celebrating her 21st birthday in May in a city  hotel along with her colleagues.
A source said: “One of her male colleagues, 25, greeted her and kissed her on the cheek in the presence of her father.
“The incident was witnessed by policemen present at the entrance of the hotel. They took note of it and registered a police case.”
The case has been adjourned to hear the witnesses.


In the News Dec 13, 2008

Here are some news stories from the past couple of days.

Woman’s complaint lands her in trouble

AN angry woman walked into a police station to file a complaint against a “lover” she feared had infected her with Aids – only to find herself charged with having illicit relations.
Police officers were shocked when the Filipina voluntarily came to the station to inform them she had been having an affair with her boss. It later transpired that the furious woman had no idea that such relations were illegal in Qatar.
The woman attempted to file a complaint against her boss, a Spanish national of Indian origin, on September 22.
The 23-year-old woman had been warned by a female compatriot – a housemaid in the man’s house – that she saw anti-Aids medication in his bedroom.
Shocked by the thought that she may have unwittingly contracted the disease, the young woman went to the police.
After taking her statement, the police referred the matter to the Public Prosecution and the 42-year-old boss was summoned to answer the allegations.
Realising her mistake, the “plaintiff” later tried to withdraw the complaint, but the police told her that it was no longer her decision to make.
When the boss spoke to investigators, he denied a relationship and said the medicines in his room belonged to his wife who suffered from urinary tract problems.
An Aids test later confirmed the man did not have the disease – nor did the “plaintiff.”
As a result of the Filipina’s report to the police, the two recently appeared in court where they pleaded not guilty.
The man’s lawyer claims his client is the victim of a malicious vendetta carried out by the Filipina after she was sacked from her job.
The trial has been adjourned to December 25.

Kissing lands couple in trouble

A ‘MARRIED’ couple was sentenced in absentia to a year in prison for kissing in public and conducting an illicit relationship.
The Muslim woman and her Christian ‘husband’, both from Lebanon, skipped the country before the trial concluded after being told the State did not recognise their marriage, which took place in Cyprus.
Despite their inter-faith union not being an issue in their home country, Doha authorities ruled it unlawful – even though the woman was apparently given a residence visa based on the sponsorship of her ‘husband’.
The couple landed in trouble after a Qatari family called the police to complain they were kissing on the Corniche in April.
The police officer who attended the call said he found the two in an “indecent position” and when he confronted them, the woman screamed that they were married.
The officer insisted that their marital status bore no relevance to the offence.
During interrogation, the arrested man, 27, claimed he had done nothing more than place his hand on the shoulder of his 24-year-old ‘wife’ who had arrived in Qatar 10 days earlier. She told the public prosecution that she did not realise that such an act was illegal in Qatar.
It was during their trial that the tricky subject of the pair’s marriage came up for debate.
The couple presented their marriage certificate to the court. However, it was ruled to be invalid in Qatar.
The court admitted that a residence visa had been issued based on the fact that the two were husband and wife, but the country had the right to cancel that at any time if information came to light requiring such action.
The court also admitted there was no evidence of malicious intent to hide the couple’s differing religions and that their documents were authentic. However, the court made it clear that Qatar could not accept the marriage within the constraints of its own laws.
The couple’s lawyer said there would be no appeal lodged against the verdict as his clients had left the country after a travel ban had been lifted.

In the News

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, and I hopefully will very soon.  I’ve been busy with work, took a short vacation to the US, and I went to Bahrain to visit an old friend this weekend.  Wow, I love my life  🙂

I saw a couple of stories in the news today that I had to share.  These are definitely not ones that you would see in the US.  Enjoy.

‘Illicit links’ couple avert jail after marriage

Publish Date: Thursday,17 July, 2008, at 01:52 AM Doha Time
By Nour Abuzant
Original story here.

A CHRISTIAN man and a Muslim woman escaped jail for having illicit relations after he converted to Islam and the couple married.

Lawyers for the pair had asked for the charge to be quashed following the union, but presiding judge Mamon Hamour said the subsequent wedding did not erase the original crime and he passed down a suspended one-year prison sentence.

He explained that “marriage was a holy contract” and it deserved more respect than to be used to cover up a crime.  However, the court applauded the man’s decision to convert to Islam and admitted that the fact that they were now husband and wife had helped reduce their sentence.

The couple’s illicit affair was uncovered after the woman accused her then lover of blackmailing her.  She said he had in his possession a number of intimate photographs which he had threatened to put on the Internet unless she had paid him QR100,000.

The court heard that the Lebanese pair had hoped to marry but both their families had been against the idea because she was older than him and because of their religious differences.

The trial also heard that the couple had lived together for a while in Doha in 2005 because the woman “was unaware that such a matter was illegal in Qatar”.

The man denied attempts to blackmail his then girlfriend claiming she had concocted the story after falsely believing he was about to marry another woman.

Officers found no evidence of compromising pictures on his computer.

Acting on their lawyers’ advice, the two of them buried the hatchet and tied the knot in March after the groom-to-be converted on October 31, 2007.

Despite mentioning the alleged blackmail plot, judge Hamour said he would only deal with the charge brought by the Public Prosecution of illicit relations.

The court also stopped short of deporting the pair “to allow them to establish a family in Doha”.

However, legal sources said the couple’s conviction could affect any decision to renew their residence permits.

Co-education remains taboo for most Qataris

Publish Date: Thursday,17 July, 2008, at 01:08 AM Doha Time
By Anwar Elshamy
Original story here.

MOST Qataris are not in favour of any plan to introduce co-education, saying it will only “cause damage to a deeply-rooted culture of segregation between male and female students”.

Abdul Aziz al-Sayed, a principal of an Independent School, said that any plan for co-education would be regarded as a “war against the culture and create confusion and alienation among students”.

According to him, it is hard to put an end to a heritage of single-sex learning. “We should not be lured by the educational philosophies made in the West. Every society has its own traits and our society is not prepared for such step or even will be happy with it,” he said, adding, “Even some Western countries have introduced single-sex education system.

“I have visited many schools in the USA and Europe and they are reviewing the policy of co-education after many findings showed its drawbacks,” he said.

Noura al-Saad, a columnist with a local Arabic daily, said that any proposal to introduce co-education system would be doomed to fail since “the scheme would not be acceptable to the community at all”.

“I believe that any step like that will be rejected by the majority. Our community will not be happy about the idea of mixing between men and women whether at schools or at work. Nothing obliges us to adopt co-education system,” she said.

“I put a face veil and work in an exclusively female section in my office, I will quit my job if it becomes obligatory for me to work in a mixed-sex environment,” she added.

Dr Amina al-Hail, an official at the Ministry of Education, dismissed the perception that those who received their education in a single-sex system can hardly work in a labour market permitting mixing between males and females, as “untrue”.

“All the Qatari women are now working in public and private sectors along with men though both were products of a single-sex education. The problem is that the foreigners think that our community is being shackled by restrictions and traditions. This notion is wrong. Men and women are working now on equal basis with one another in many departments and we do not hear about harassment of any type,” she said.  However, Hassan al-Jifairi, a social activist, favoured co-education system, saying that it would improve the output of education process by attracting students to schools and universities.

“I believe that ending the segregation of genders in university and schools will improve learning and make it attractive. Both males and females would be inspired by one another and have spirit of competition,” he said. According to al-Jifairi, it would also create some sort of self-discipline as females and males try to be courteous, cautious and under control when they are in one place.

New Category – "In the News"

I’ve decided to start posting news articles from the Gulf region, so that you know what’s going on here.  These will range from weird and hilarious to governmental policy and everything in between.  Here are a couple to start:

TAMUQ career fair draws top firms

TEXAS A&M Univer-sity at Qatar (TAMUQ) has hosted regional companies at its annual career fair as part of a week-long programme called Careers for Engineers 2008.
The event was organised by the university’s Academic Services Office for students and employers to connect with each other in time for the campus’ first graduation ceremony this May. 
Students were able to submit resumes to over 20 local companies, hiring for both internships and full time employment.
Company representatives were able to interact with students on an informal one-on-one basis and also conducted formal interviews and information sessions about their companies. 
With engineers in high demand within the country and regionally, companies are eagerly awaiting the first and subsequent classes to come out of TAMUQ.
Companies represented at the career fair included Alfardan, Oxy, Shell, Qatargas, Kahramaa, Qtel, Qapco, ExxonMobil, Q-Cert, QChem, Maersk Oil Qatar, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, GE, RasGas, Dolphin Energy, Qatar Petroleum, Halliburton, Qatar Steel, Qatar General Organisation for Standards and Metrology, Qatar Vinyl Company, and Oryx GTL.
“After attending the career fair, I am encouraged that the industry is not only looking for engineers, but Texas A&M engineers. I personally had three interviews and am hopeful that I will receive a positive reply for a summer internship,” sophomore mechanical engineering major Dani Wannous said.

US calls for Qatar to relax labour laws

US EMBASSY officials are urging a “liberalisation” of the sponsorship law to combat forced labour and human trafficking violations within Qatar.
The call comes amid increasing speculation regarding a draft law, currently awaiting approval, governing the entry and exit of foreigners, their residence and sponsorship.
The US embassy’s Charge d’Affaires, Michael Ratney, said: “Trafficking is a serious problem as many expatriate workers make arrangements to come and work in Qatar for a certain wage and a certain number of hours, but then often find themselves to be working double the hours for half the pay when they actually get here.
“The current sponsorship and labour laws mean that this practice is all too common, and we have urged the Qatari government to look into this.”
A recent human rights report commissioned by the US State Department, covering countries to which America provides foreign assistance, made uncomfortable reading regarding the lives of some expatriate workers.
It stated: “Men and women from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East travel willingly to Qatar as labourers and domestic servants but often subsequently face conditions of forced labour and physical and sexual exploitation.
“Legislation guiding the sponsorship of expatriate labourers created conditions constituting forced labour or slavery.
“The dependence of foreign labourers on their employer for residency rights and the inability to change employment or to travel without the sponsor’s permission leaves them vulnerable to abuse and arrest.”
The report pointed the finger at individual employers, contractors and recruitment agencies for the violations, adding “there is no evidence of institutional involvement by government bodies or officials”.
At a press conference held to discuss the report yesterday, Ratney admitted that Qatar had made “steady progress” in its human rights record and hoped the country could lead the way for others to follow.
He said: “With its strong leadership (Qatar) has the potential to set an example in the region.”
And part of that example would be a “liberalisation of the code that governs workers in Qatar”.
Amendments to the current sponsorship law, insisted Ratney, would benefit not only the largely expatriate workforce but also result in increased competition to the benefit of all.   
The US Department’s human rights report on Qatar for the year 2007 was based on information received from a variety of sources, including governments and multilateral institutions, national and international non-governmental groups, academics, jurists, religious groups and the media.
Ratney added that the Qatari authorities had also been extremely helpful in providing information.