Qatar helps reunite 14 children with their families

Dr Majid bin Mohammed al-Ansari, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), announced on Thursday that Qatar has succeeded in reuniting 10 Ukrainian and 4 Russian children with their respective families through its mediation.

In his weekly media briefing, Dr Majid al-Ansari said that this mediation has been ongoing for months and has resulted in the reunification of 48 children with their families, 5 from Russia and 43 from Ukraine.

He praised the cooperation between the two parties to ensure that these children reach their families and ensure that they are spared the consequences of war.

Al-Ansari pointed out that this agreement came as a result of the great Qatari effort to achieve peace in general, and the great interest in this issue in particular, since the first day of this war, and the positive role that Qatar can play in achieving and making peace.

Noting that as always, the children are received at the Embassy of Qatar in Moscow, and then their arrival to their final destinations and their reunification with their families is followed up, under Qatari supervision.

Dr al-Ansari praised the efforts of HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater, Minister of State for International Cooperation, in leading the negotiations and mediation processes, and the efforts of the parties concerned from both sides (the Russian Federation and Ukraine). Stressing that these efforts are ongoing and other positive steps will be announced in the coming days.

He pointed out that there is a health and social care programme currently being conducted for the children in Doha, in the presence of the Russian and Ukrainian sides. Stressing that in the shadow of any conflict or war, it is necessary to work to ensure that children are spared the consequences of these conflicts, which is something that we lack greatly in the Gaza Strip, and now in Lebanon, where children have become targets due to the persistence of massacres and slaughters.

The official spokesman for the MoFA confirmed that from December, Qatari citizens will be exempted from entry visas to the United States, after Qatar was included in the visa waiver programme. Explaining that the inclusion of Qatar in the American visa waiver programme reflects the level of the strategic relationship between the two countries, and is the culmination of bilateral relations in various fields. Qatar is at the forefront of the Middle East and North Africa countries in the field of security and safety, according to international indicators, in addition to its commitment to global standards in the security fields.

He pointed out that this exemption from the US visa for Qatari citizens confirms the great confidence in the state of security enjoyed by Qatar, whether at the local level or in its relations with its international partners.

Pointing to Japan’s announcement a few months ago that it would exempt Qatari citizens from visas, and before that the British government announced that Qatari citizens would be the first to be eligible for the new electronic travel authorization programme, which reduces burdens and procedures. Uzbekistan announced in August 2023 that it would lift the need for a visa for Qataris.

Dr Majid bin Mohammed al-Ansari said that Qatar, through the MOFA, continues to do everything necessary to remove difficulties facing Qatari citizens, and to prove the strength of the Qatari passport, which is considered one of the strongest passports in the world, in terms of not needing entry visas and ease of movement between countries of the world.

Regarding the current situation in Lebanon, Dr Majid al-Ansari explained that there are a number of statements issued to stop this mindless war, as Qatar and a number of Arab countries issued a joint call with the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan, and a number of European Union countries, to cease fire in Lebanon, and to emphasize that the situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8 is unbearable and represents an unacceptable risk of a large-scale regional escalation.

He added that since the beginning of the war on Lebanon, contacts have been ongoing with all parties and regional partners to reduce escalation and cease fire. Stressing that this attack on Lebanon is unjustified and represents a full-fledged war, and not as is being said that it is a limited escalation, as there are more than 600 dead in two days, and this number represents 50% of the victims of the 2006 war that lasted a whole month.

Dr al-Ansari pointed out that the international community is required to stop this war and push the parties to stop the fighting. Especially since there is agreement that this escalation is a slide into a cycle of violence that cannot be accepted and cannot be tolerated in light of the complete absence of peace partners and political will that leads to an agreement. Pointing out that what is happening in Lebanon is not separate from the events in Gaza, he said but there is a path working on the Lebanese file that is more urgent and another in which many parties participate with the aim of stopping the war on Gaza. There is no doubt that there is a great overlap between the two files, but the reality of the matter is that we are talking about a state whose sovereignty is being violated, and a besieged sector that is being subjected to all forms of abuse by the Israeli occupation. He said, "there is no doubt that there is an overlap between the two files, but there are paths that work in parallel."

Regarding the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, the official spokesman for the MOFA confirmed that preventing its entry has become a full-fledged crime. Recently, a statement was issued by 15 relief organizations saying that the residents of Gaza are eating only one meal a day due to the delay in the entry of aid. These organizations indicated that 83% of the necessary food aid is prevented from reaching the besieged Strip due to the closure of the borders, stressing that this matter is the full responsibility of the Israeli occupation, as there is no justification for preventing the entry of aid.

Dr al-Ansari considered this measure a systematic starvation and the use of medicine and food as a weapon in this war, whose only victims are civilians, women and children, and that this matter will be repeated with Lebanon and others, if there is no clear international position that places Israel before its responsibilities.

At the beginning of the media briefing, Dr al- Ansari reviewed the activity of the Ministry and its officials during the past few days, which included more than twenty meetings at the ministerial level and 37 bilateral meetings held by various Qatari officials with their counterparts from different regions of the world, in which the aggression on the Gaza Strip and the war on Lebanon were at the forefront. These meetings emphasized Qatar’s firm position on the necessity of stopping the war and for the international community to push towards stopping it immediately.