14  July 2020

The State of Qatar welcomes today’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (the “ICJ”) that it has the right to challenge airspace restrictions imposed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt (“the Blockading States”) before the UN’s aviation body – the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Since June 2017, the Blockading States have prohibited Qatar-registered aircraft from flying to or from their airports. The ICAO Council will now resume its proceedings.

Qatar’s decision to bring claims before the ICAO follows repeated attempts to negotiate an amicable settlement, which have been consistently rejected by the Blockading States.