Law against Sexual Harassment in Qatar - Essay Example

Law against Sexual Harassment in QatarIntroduction:Qatar is governed by an Emir, exercises power with few commands.. The first Emir Khalifa bin Hamad al Thani took over after Qatar gained independence from Britain in 1971 and he ruled the country till 1995. The first Emir was ousted by his son Sheik Hamad al-Thani. After his accession to power he took gradual steps to give Qatar an outlook of a modern moderate state by introducing social, political and economic reforms and it is noteworthy that some of the reforms benefited women of Qatar.

In 1999 the first election was held; giving the right of equal suffrage to the women. In the referendum, held on April 29, 2003, about 97% voters approved a new constitution. The constitution gives equal rights to the women. Legal Rights of Women:In Qatar public protests and political demonstrations are not permissible. Trade groups, women groups and political parties have not been granted license. In 2002 the Emir ordered to establish National Committee for Human Rights to implement the aims of internation human rights charter and to report the human rights violation.

The constitution of Qatar guarantees women the equal rights as citizens . Article 35 explicitly stipulates, "[A]ll people are equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination on account of sex, origin, language or religion." No doubt, the constitution gives protection to women but in reality there have been no formal mechanism to provide opportunity to women to register their complaints against gender discrimination. The government is not interested to take measures to protect the legal rights of women.

Moreover, the Islamic Laws, as implemented in Qatar are discriminatory against women and women do not have the legal protection if the law of inheritance is violated.Protection against Sexual Harassment: “The term sexual harassment is understood internationally as the abuse of authority by persons in positions of power with the purpose of coercing persons under their authority into granting sexual favors.” (The Arab Human Development Report, 2005 and for comprehensive review, see Paludi & Paludi,2003: Sbraga & O’ Donohue, 2000) Unfortunately Arab penal codes do not provide us the concrete definition of sexual harassment.

There are laws to punish the crime of rape, sexual abuse and extorting sexual favors but Arab penal codes does not define sexual harassment as it is defined internationally. The foreigners, working in Qatar, does not have the right of citizenship, it is reported that foreign nationals employed as domestic worker face sexual harassment at their work place. There are reports of registration of cases but usually women do not register their complaints for fear of losing their residence permit. Sexual Harassment on Internet:Suler (1999) says that Internet provides an environment in which healthy behavior may be persuaded.

Barak & King (2000) have come up with the study to prove that internet is “exploited for good and evil purposes.” Joinson (2003) in the review discovered the effects of new technological tools which have constructive aspects for the advancement and joy for people as well as negative aspects that block social progress and humiliate people. Morahan-Martin (2000) has the view that women Net users face “promise and peril” In the internet gender discrimination is the unwelcome verbal and visual comments that insult individual.

These are behaviors such as posting obscene pictures, telling jokes which humiliate the fair sex. Sexual harassment is pretty common on the internet and it is observed that almost it is unnoticed. In Qatar the internet is a controlled medium but if the cases of sexual harassment are traced on the on internet the Qatar government is not that prompt to punish the culprits. ReferencesBarak, Ayaz (2003) Sexual Harassment on the Internet. University of Haifa.Barak.A. & King (2000) The Two Faces of Internet: Introduction to special issue on the Internet and sexuality.

Cyberpsychology and Behaviour. 3,517-520.Suler. J. (2004) The online disinhabition effect. Cyberpsychology and Behaviour. 7,321-326.