Reaching the MDG targets has become especially difficult with the global economic crisis added to the existing crises of food and climate change. The challenge is to understand where and why we are falling short and what can be done to close the gap between commitments made and results on the ground.
- Mary Robinson, Doha, 22 Feb. 2010
On February 22nd, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) of Qatar, held a Special Forum to discuss the report of a panel of experts brought together by an initiative of the Government of Switzerland in 2008: ???Protecting dignity: An agenda for human rights". Forum participants discussed a number of issues relating to the report, in line with the report's aim of encouraging further thinking on how key human rights challenges can most effectively be addressed in the years ahead.
Opening remarks were delivered by President of Realizing Rights, Mary Robinson, former Lebanese Prime Minister, Dr. Salim Al Hoss, Human Rights Minister of the Republic of Yemen, Dr. Huda Ali Abdul Latif Alban, and NHRC Chairman, Dr. Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri.
Mary Robinson highlighted the aim of the report of the panel of experts, which was to advance global dialogue and action on human rights and to use the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration in 2008 to help foster a shared global agenda for human rights for the coming decade. Robinson 
outlined the eight themes selected by the panel as being of particular importance.
Further Reading:
Swiss Initiative to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR
Protecting Dignity: An Agenda for Human Rights [44 pages, 795kb]
