{"id":465459,"date":"2019-04-02T16:54:22","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T16:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mecouncil.org\/?p=465459"},"modified":"2022-09-21T06:14:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T06:14:34","slug":"gcc-news-roundup-saudi-arabia-faces-rebuke-gulf-states-react-to-golan-heights-decision-march-1-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/gcc-news-roundup-saudi-arabia-faces-rebuke-gulf-states-react-to-golan-heights-decision-march-1-31\/","title":{"rendered":"GCC News Roundup: Saudi Arabia faces rebuke, Gulf States react to Golan Heights decision (March 1-31)"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAUDI ARABIA FACES FIRST REBUKE FROM UN COUNCIL<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Saudi Arabia was rebuked by three dozen countries<\/a>, including all EU members, at the U.N. Human Rights Council. The involved countries issued a joint statement, urging Saudi Arabia to release 10 activists and cooperate with a U.N.-led investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This marked the first rebuke of Saudi Arabia since the council was established in 2006. The joint statement expressed concern regarding Saudi Arabia\u2019s \u201cuse of the counter-terrorism law and other national security provisions against individuals peacefully exercising their rights and freedoms.\u201d In response, Saudi ambassador Abdulaziz M.O. Alwasil said that his country has worked to protect human rights, adding that rights issues should be dealt with \u201cin an impartial and objective manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

GULF STATES PUSH BACK ON GOLAN HEIGHTS DECISION<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait pushed back on U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s recognition<\/a> of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, saying that the territory was occupied Arab land. Iran, Lebanon, and the European members of the U.N. Security Council also refused to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory.<\/p>\n

FIFA LOOKS TO EXPAND 2022 WORLD CUP TO OMAN, KUWAIT<\/strong><\/h2>\n

FIFA is considering having Oman and Kuwait host a few matches<\/a> of the 2022 World Cup, in addition to Qatar, as part of a larger proposal to expand the tournament from 32 to 48 teams. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is pushing to expand the tournament ahead of schedule, despite concerns expressed by Qatari officials. If the plan to expand the tournament goes ahead, most of the 2022 matches would still take place in Qatar. A final decision on the plan will be made during the FIFA annual Congress in June. Qatar\u2019s consent is required for the decision to be implemented.<\/p>\n

QATAR AND EU TO HAVE OPEN SKIES BY 2024<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Qatar and the European Union signed a broad air services pact<\/a>, enabling Qatari and EU member state airlines to have unlimited access to each other\u2019s airspace. According to Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker, the number of flights permitted between Qatar and the European Union will continue to increase, resulting in \u201cfull open skies\u201d by 2024. This is the first agreement of its kind<\/a> between the European Union and a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country.<\/p>\n

UAE INCLUDED IN EU TAX BLACKLIST<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The European Union added the UAE and nine other jurisdictions<\/a> to a blacklist of tax havens. The chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, Abdulaziz al-Ghurair, said that the decision was due to a \u201clack of communication\u201d between the European Union and the UAE government. The UAE government added in a statement that it is committed to all international tax agreements and is cooperating with international partners, including the European Union, to \u201cachieve compliance with these charters.\u201d The blacklist was originally set up in 2017, following the discovery of largescale tax avoidance schemes. Jurisdictions included on the list are subject to stricter controls on EU transactions.<\/p>\n

BAHRAINI COURT SENTENCES 167 PEOPLE TO PRISON<\/h2>\n

Bahrain sentenced 167 people to prison<\/a> in late February. They were arrested in 2017 at a sit-in held in support of Bahrain\u2019s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim. According to court documents, the High Criminal Court sentenced most of the defendants to one-year prison terms; however, 56 individuals were sentenced to 10-year terms. None of the defendants were present in court during the sentencing, for fear of being arrested.<\/p>\n

MOODY\u2019S DOWNGRADES OMAN CREDIT RATING<\/h2>\n

Rating agency Moody\u2019s downgraded Oman\u2019s credit rating to junk<\/a>, adding that its outlook for the rating was negative. Moody\u2019s shifted Oman\u2019s ranking from Baa3, its lowest investment-grade rating, to Ba1.<\/p>\n

According to a statement issued by the agency, \u201cThe key driver of the downgrade is Moody\u2019s expectation that the scope for fiscal consolidation will remain more significantly constrained by the government\u2019s economic and social stability objectives than it had previously assessed.\u201d Moody\u2019s added that Oman\u2019s large fiscal deficits, caused by falling oil prices over the past few years, could increase the country\u2019s external vulnerability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAUDI ARABIA FACES FIRST REBUKE FROM UN COUNCIL Saudi Arabia was rebuked by three dozen countries, including all EU members, at the U.N. Human Rights Council. The involved countries issued a joint statement, urging Saudi Arabia to release 10 activists and cooperate with a U.N.-led investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This marked… Continue reading GCC News Roundup: Saudi Arabia faces rebuke, Gulf States react to Golan Heights decision (March 1-31)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":465460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication_archive_type":[297],"class_list":["post-465459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_archive_type-issue-brief","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465462,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465459\/revisions\/465462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465459"},{"taxonomy":"publication_archive_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_archive_type?post=465459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}