New York – Information Office – 09  March

The State of Qatar informed the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary-General that Qatari marine surveillance saw on Friday January 19 of 2018 an UAE naval ship unload a boat into the Qatari economic zone. The boat then obstructed and kidnapped a Qatari fishing boat that had seven fishermen and a captain aboard them, all of whom were Indian nationals. The fishermen were forced at gunpoint to enter the UAE economic zone.

This came in a message by HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Security Council president for March Karel van Oosterom.

The message said that the incident constituted a kidnapping and is a dangerous precedent and a severe violation of international norms. In the message, the State of Qatar expressed condemnation and rejection of UAE's actions, which was a violation of international law and related international agreements. The message also said that the UAE was fully responsible for the safety of the members of the Qatari fishing boat, calling on the international community to pressure the UAE into respecting international agreements and to free the fishermen, as well as to return the boat and any other possessions they seized.