Qatar has officially been declared the safest country in the Arab World, according to the 2021 Global Peace Index (GPI).
According to the 2021 Global Peace Index (GPI), Qatar is the most peaceful country in the Arab World.
This year’s Global Peace Index (GPI) saw Qatar move up two ranks from last year, making it the 29th most peaceful country out of 163 countries on the index.
The index also revealed that Qatar was considered the most peaceful country in the Arab world, with Kuwait ranking second in the region at number 36.
The number of weapons imports per capita increased in 92 countries. The largest increases occurred in Qatar, Armenia, and Turkmenistan.
Qatar is also the country with the highest military expenditure per capita in the world, spending over USD2,200 per citizen. In the domain of societal safety and security, Qatar ranked 15th most peaceful globally.
Despite recording the largest improvement in peacefulness in 2021, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the least peaceful region in the world, according to the index.
Only three of the nine regions in the world became more peaceful over the past year. The largest improvement occurred in MENA, followed by Europe and South Asia. However, MENA still remains the least peaceful region in the world. An improvement in the level of Ongoing Conflict in MENA was the biggest driver of increased peacefulness, with every indicator on the domain recording an improvement. The region is home to three of the five least peaceful countries in the world.
This is the 15th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies.
The GPI covers 99.7% of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace across three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security, the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, and the degree of Militarisation.
In recent years, Qatar has continued to retain its global distinction as one of the safest countries in the world. Earlier this year, Doha was declared the second safest city in the world, according to the Safety/Crime Index by City 2021 by Numbeo, the world’s largest user-contributed database on cities and countries. In 2020, Qatar was named the world’s safest country by Numbeo’s mid-year Crime Index by Country. Qatar has taken the title as the world’s safest country at least three times on Numbeo – first in 2017, then again in 2019 and 2020. In addition, Qatar has been named the safest Arab country since 2015.
Doha Declaration
The global programme for the implementation of the Doha Declaration received wide international attention at the opening of the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Kyoto, Japan in March 2021. It is described as a pioneering model in helping countries, especially developing ones, in dealing with organised crime, corruption, drugs and terrorism, and in building solid criminal justice systems in addition to contributing to the implementation of the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In a statement delivered at the conference, the Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, HE Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi, expressed the gratitude of Qatar to the people and government of Japan for hosting the conference despite the great difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the early agreement on in the Kyoto Declaration, which represents an effective roadmap that leads joint international efforts in crime prevention and criminal justice over the next five years.
He said that Qatar has not and will not spare any effort in combating crime, consolidating the principle of the rule of law and establishing a successful and effective criminal justice system, noting that Qatar topped the list of countries in MENA in the ranking of the Global Peace Index for 2020, and ranked first in the Arab World at the Societal Safety and Security index.
He also reviewed the achievements of the Doha Global Programme that have been introduced during the Kyoto Conference. The minister made a special reference to the programme reaching 2.5 mn people in 190 countries, besides the delivery of educational materials to more than 1.4 mn students, and benefitting more than 170,000 people from 187 countries from capability-building activities, in addition to the training of more than 11,000 young people on crime prevention through sport, and the training of more than 1,500 judges and public prosecutors on the issues of judicial integrity.
Accordingly, he affirmed Qatar’s keenness to provide all aspects of support to the United Nations Office in Vienna on Drugs and Crime, and to actively participate in all international and regional efforts, and at the bilateral level between countries, to implement the Kyoto Declaration and achieve its desired goals.
Upon the inauguration of the 14th United Nations Conference in Kyoto, HE Dr Al Nuaimi handed over the banner from Qatar to Japan, stressing Qatar’s keenness to provide full support to the new Japanese Presidency over the congress for the success of its tasks.
HE the minister presented the Japanese presidency a small memento representing a boat with a sail symbolising the unity in front of the challenges and to confirm the continuity in the work of the crime prevention and criminal justice conferences, besides establishing the principle of building the conference on the achievements of previous conferences, and that the great legacy of the crime prevention conferences since 1955 would be present at all conferences.
Ambassador Sultan Al Mansouri, the permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations and international organisations in Vienna, handed over this symbol to the Japanese presidency of the conference.
Author: Sarah Palmer
This is an editorial from Marhaba Information Guide – M81.
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