A/HRC/44/57/Add.1 15. Although States may make distinctions between citizens and non-citizens, including with respect to exclusions, restrictions and preferences, these may not be applied in a racially discriminatory manner or as a pretext for racial discrimination. As the Government of Qatar itself argued in its ground-breaking inter-State communication before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, discrimination on the basis of nationality that impedes equal enjoyment of human rights is prohibited under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 12 In its general recommendation No. 30 (2004) on discrimination against non-citizens, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has made clear that distinctions between citizens and non-citizens must not undermine racial equality and nondiscrimination. Thus, although Qatar retains a sovereign right, as do all nations, to draw distinctions between citizens and non-citizens, international law limits this right in order to ensure the inherent dignity of all human beings, irrespective of race, national origin and ethnicity.13 16. A serious concern for Qatar is structural forms of racial discrimination against nonnationals because of the way that bilateral agreements, transnational labour recruitment practices, Qatari labour and residency laws, private sector contracts and practices, and other factors combine in complex ways to condition human rights significantly on the basis of national origin and nationality. To put the issue differently, for many in Qatar, national origin and nationality determines the extent of their enjoyment of their human rights. Other factors such as class, gender and disability status are also salient, but stratification of quality of life according to nationality and national origin on the scale the Special Rapporteur witnessed during her visit raises serious concerns of structural racial discrimination against non-nationals in Qatar. The Special Rapporteur offers examples in the sections below. 17. Addressing the overwhelming role that national origin and nationality play in shaping human rights experiences and outcomes in Qatar presents a very complicated challenge, not least because, as already mentioned, many inequalities are determined by policies in countries of origin. At the same time, discrimination and inequality are also a product of Qatari public and private sector policies and practices. The Government must take urgent steps to dismantle what is in effect a quasi-caste system based on national origin. Of note, the international human rights obligations of Qatar require it to take action to combat discrimination, even in the private sector. 14 In order to discharge its obligations to eliminate racial discrimination by private actors, Qatar must enact special measures targeted to achieve and protect racial equality throughout the public and private sphere. 15 The country’s human rights obligations require it to eliminate labour market discrimination and segregated or discriminatory housing practices, 16 and to ensure that businesses open to the general public do not engage in racial discrimination.17 12 13 14 15 16 17 See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/InterstateCommunications.aspx. See A/HRC/38/52. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 2 (1) (d); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009) on the meaning and scope of special measures in the Convention, para. 9; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 8; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights, para. 11. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20, para. 11. See also Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 29 (2002) on descent in the context of article 1 (1) of the Convention, sect. 7. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, para. 5 (e); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20, para. 11; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31, para. 8; and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendations No. 29, sects. 3 and 7, No. 30, paras. 33–35, and No. 34 (2011) on racial discrimination against people of African descent, paras. 58–59. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20, para. 11; and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendations No. 27 (2000) on the discrimination against Roma, para. 35 and No. 29, sect. 3. 5