UAE ordered by UN court to protect rights of Qataris

The UN's top court today ordered the United Arab Emirates to protect the rights of Qatari citizens, wading into a bitter year-long crisis triggered when Gulf countries snapped ties with Doha.

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague narrowly ruled in a provisional but binding decision that the UAE must allow families, which include Qatari members, to be reunited, and that Qatari students must be given the chance to complete their education in the Emirates.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and other allies severed ties with Qatar on June 7, 2017, accusing Doha of backing terrorism. Qatari nationals living in the UAE were officially given just 14 days to leave the country.

But Doha denies the accusations, and last month appealed to the ICJ to impose emergency measures against the UAE to protect its citizens. It has also accused Abu Dhabi of breaking the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

In a hearing in late June, Qatar alleged that the United Arab Emirates was spreading a "climate of fear" among Qataris living there, splitting families and causing "substantial pain" during the year-long blockade.

The court's judges found in Doha's favour, ruling the measures imposed by the UAE risked causing "irreparable harm" to Qatari citizens.

The judges voted by eight votes in favour of a series of provisional measures -- with seven judges against -- that the UAE "must ensure that families, that include a Qatari, separated by the measures adopted by the United Arab