ICJ to take up Qatar-UAE case over blockade crisis

The International Court of Justice at The Hague on Tuesday will resume discrimination hearings against the United Arab Emirates. 

The charges were filed by Qatar in May last year. Doha says the rights of its citizens in the UAE are being violated - following a 2017 air and sea blockade by Gulf Arab states.

But in a tit-for-tat case, the UAE has also accused Qatar of blocking a key website and using its state-controlled news channels and fake documents to hamper Abu Dhabi’s own efforts to obey the order.

“Qatar has continued to aggravate the dispute and make it more difficult to resolve,” said Hissa Abdulla Ahmed Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the Netherlands.

She urged the court to take urgent measures to stop Qatar’s alleged actions, warning of “irreparable harm” to the UAE’s own legal rights otherwise.

Doha has repeatedly denied the claims and accused its rivals of seeking regime change.

Qatar has faced an economic and diplomatic boycott since June 2017 by Gulf rivals who accuse Doha of backing terrorism and being too close to regional rival Iran.

Last June, the ICJ ruled that the UAE must allow families which include Qatari members, to be reunited and that Qatari students must be given the chance to complete their education in the Emirates

But the UAE said on Tuesday that Qatar had blocked its own citizens from accessing an Emirati website to ease travel issues.

TRT World spoke to Toby Codman, an expert on international law, for more on the story.

Qatar has already taken legal action against the four countries before the International Court of Justice, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Trade Organization.

In a sign tensions are still high, the United Arab Emirates said it released on Monday a Qatari military ship that had violated UAE territorial waters last week.