This report suggests questions the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women should pose to the Government of Qatar in its List of Issues Prior to Reporting, particularly with respect to the administration of the death penalty against women.

Little to no information is available about the various aspects of the death penalty as it applies to women in Qatar. The absence of data about women subject to the death penalty may obscure the ways in which Qatar’s death penalty practices discriminate against women.

Between 2000 and 2020, Qatar maintained a de facto moratorium on executions, but during that period courts continued to sentence people, including women, to death. In 2020, however, Qatar executed a Nepali migrant worker by firing squad. Qatar lacks an independent judiciary and women face institutionalized discrimination at many stages of the criminal legal system, putting them at risk of facing the death penalty. Qatar has failed to address gender-based violence, further increasing risks to women. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable in the country’s criminal legal system. Women at risk of being sentenced to death or executed experience poor conditions of detention. Qatar is not taking steps toward a de jure moratorium on executions or ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.