GCC committed to rights, equality, freedom

Jeddah: The Gulf Cooperation Council leaders, who concluded their deliberations in Doha on Tuesday, adopted the GCC Declaration on Human Rights emphasizing their respect for all religions and their readiness to promote freedom of opinion and expression. “The declaration ensures freedom of movement, residence and departure being the right of every human being,” said the document released by the GCC secretariat. “All people are equal before the law and there will not be any discrimination among them on the basis of origin, sex, religion, language and color,” it added. The declaration calls for the promotion of religious tolerance. Article 11 of the declaration says a citizen shall not be deported from his/her country or prevented from entering his/her country. “Getting health care is the right of every human being and the state along with civil organizations shall work to ensure it,” the declaration said. The summit leaders demanded an immediate withdrawal of Houthi militia from the Yemeni territories, return of all military and civilian institutions to the state authority, and hand over captured weapons and equipment. The summit reiterated its support for Yemen in confronting terrorism and condemned the continued attacks against the security forces and armed forces. It also denounced the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for causing violence that destabilizes Yemen and threatens the security of the region, the final communiqué said. The Supreme Council urged all Yemeni parties to be committed to settling their differences through dialogue and consultation and renounce the use of violence in order to achieve political goals, calling on all Yemenis to resolve differences by peaceful means. The summit stressed the importance of GCC-Iran ties on the basis of good neighborliness, non-interference in internal affairs, respect for the sovereignty of countries in the region, and refrain from the use of force, or threatening with it. The summit stressed the importance of making the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East region free of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons, stressing the right of all GCC member states to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Arab News