Qatar is a sovereign Arab state located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy since 1971, when Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani took power. The Al Thani family has maintained its control over the country ever since, with each Emir succeeding his father in turn. The current Emir is Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who assumed power in 2013.

The government of Qatar is based on Shari’a law and the 2003 Constitution, which established a hereditary constitutional monarchy with executive and legislative powers vested in the Emir. The unicameral legislature consists of an Advisory Council appointed by the Emir, who also appoints members of a cabinet to administer various ministries and departments. The judiciary system is also composed of Shari’a courts and civil courts with judges appointed by the Emir. Qatar does not have political parties or elections; however, it does hold municipal elections for members of local councils every four years. Visit COUNTRYAAH for a list of countries that start with letter Q.

Qatar has had strong diplomatic ties with many countries around the world including other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has also been active in regional organizations like GCC and Arab League as well as international organizations such as United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organization (WTO). Qatar’s foreign policy focuses on maintaining friendly relations with its neighbors while actively engaging in international affairs to further its own interests. It supports regional stability through economic development initiatives like hosting several international sporting events like 2022 FIFA World Cup and providing aid to other countries including Syria and Palestine.

Yearbook 2016

Qatar. The population of Qatar was reported in March to have passed 2.5 million. The number of residents has increased from less than 1 million in just ten years as a result of the large influx of foreign workers in the oil industry and the construction sector.

According to countryaah, the current population of Qatar is 2,881,064. Results from a census carried out last year showed that 58% of the population lived in what was officially called “labor camps”. An overwhelming majority of them were men.

Qatar Population 2016

The conditions for migrant workers and, not least, poor accommodation, have long been criticized by human rights groups. The week before the report was published, 13 workers were killed in a fire in a labor camp. However, the government rejected the charges during the year, pointing out that the first of seven planned communities will be opened, which will hold a total of 260,000 workers.

In November 2006, the English-language version of al-Jazeera went live and quickly overtook BBC World in viewership. BBC World had until then been the largest global TV channel of high quality. Al Jazeera’s English-language channel contributes to breaking the censorship prevalent in most Western media – especially around coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al-Thani was appointed Prime Minister in April 2007, replacing Abdullah ibn Khalifa al-Thani. The new prime minister is considered to be the government’s strongest man.

In 2007-08, the country’s economy benefited from the right oil prices. It will continue for about 40-50 years before the country’s oil and gas reserves are exhausted.

As in the other Gulf states (and Western Europe), migrant workers have continued to suffer harsh conditions, being subjected to discrimination and violence. About 80% of the population are migrant workers.

According to thereligionfaqs, in February 2010, Qatar signed a defense agreement with Iran involving the exchange of technical committees, cooperation around training and security cooperation to combat terror and insecurity in the region. In March, Qatar’s Prime Minister fully supported Iran’s nuclear program and recognized the country’s full right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In December 2010, FIFA chose Qatar to host the soccer world championships in 2022. Qatar pledged to spend $ 80-100 billion. US $ to build 9 new stadiums, a new airport, metro and rail lines, a new bridge to Bahrain, 54 training camps and a large number of new hotels. From 2012 and 13, more and more reports about the horrific conditions under which the construction workers were working began to emerge. All construction workers are foreign – a large number of them from Nepal – and they work under slave-like conditions and are exposed to a large number of accidents due to lack of safety at work. 90% of the workforce in Qatar is foreign. The reports in 2013 and 14 became so severe that the pressure to take Qatar host role grew.

  • Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the 3-letter abbreviation of QAT stands for the nation of Qatar in geography.

Despite calls on Facebook and Twitter, Qatar never joined the Arab Spring. This must be seen in light of the fact that the country’s own population of more than 200,000 lives a comfortable life serviced by 1.5 million people. guest workers without rights. Human rights continue to have difficult conditions in the sovereign state. Blogger Sultan al-Khalaifi was arrested on March 2, 2011 and held in isolation for a week. He was released again April 1 without charges. Al-Khalaifi is at the same time the founder of a human rights organization in the country. Public servant Salem al-Khawari was arrested Feb. 7 and was held without charge until Oct. 18. The first 3 months in complete isolation. He was forced to get up 15 hours a day, prevented from sleeping and was beaten. Authorities subsequently declined to investigate the chargestorture. At least 6 people were sentenced to whip punishment in 2011 and 3 were sentenced to death without the sentence being enforced.

The outbreak of the “Arab Spring” in 2011 led to a dramatic political shift for the emir’s TV channel al-Jazeera. The channel had until then played a progressive and critical role in the otherwise conservative Arab media world, but the emir feared that the democratic tendencies would eventually overthrow him too, just as the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt were overthrown. Al-Jazeera now became a political tool for the emir and aimed to suppress news of democratic trends in the conservative Arab states, while helping to bring down the non-conservative states. Initially Libya and then Syria. The violent backlash in the conservative direction led many journalists to leave the station.