Qatar tops MENA in global peace index

DOHA—Qatar topped the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011, a Sydney-based institute said.

Qatar came in the first place among the Arab countries and in 12th place on global level among 153 countries by advancing its position this year, the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) announced in Washington Wednesday.

Globally Qatar came ahead of many countries such as Sweden (13), Bulgaria (14), Singapore (24), Britain (26), France (36), Italy (45) and the United States (82).

Among Arab countries Qatar was placed first ahead of Kuwait (2nd Arabic and 29th globally), UAE (3rd Arabic and 33rd globally) and Oman (4th Arabic and 41st globally)

The GPI is considered as the leading measure of global peacefulness produced by Institute of Economics & Peace, a non-profit research institute that studies the relations between economics, business and peace.

The index measures 40 quantitative and qualitative indicators based on the data from reliable sources and it consists of internal and external factors such as:

• Number of crimes in society
• Number of internal security officers and police
• Number of homicides per 100,000 people
• Ease of access to small arms and light weapons
• Level of organized conflict (internal)
• Likelihood of violent demonstrations
• Level of violent crime
• Political instability
• Level of disrespect for human rights (Political Terror Scale)
• Relations with neighboring countries
• Number of deaths from organized conflict (internal)

The countries are assessed on score level of (1-5). The country that is more peaceful will get a score of 1 while the least peaceful will get 5.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani addresses the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September 2010. AFP File Photo

As per this standard, Qatar was placed in top countries in most of the indicators as it got a score of 1.398 which shows the best performance in political, economical and security factors.

The GPI report described Qatar as one of the most peaceful countries among the 18 MENA countries as it scored high in peace and stability as per the GPI indicators.

Regarding the internal situation of the country, the GPI gave Qatar highest scores in interior affairs. It described the peace and stability enjoyed by the country as model for other countries. It also revealed the potentialities and capabilities in different field which contributed for social, political and law and order stability in the country.

The Report says that Qatar scored (1) in organized crime, (1) in number of homicides per 100,000 persons, (2) in Ease of access to small arms and light weapon, (1) in respect of human rights, (1.5) in Criminality in society, and (3) in number of police and security officers per 100,000 persons. All these scores are considered high as per the report.

The index considers threat of terrorist attacks and likelihood of violent demonstrations as main factors that dropped the global peace in 2011. This is third year in row that shows a drop in global peace index. An estimated US$8.12 trillion has been the cost of this drop on global economy.

Steve Killilea, CEO of the IEP says, “These dramatic declines have been caused by conflict between citizens and their governments. So the countries shall search for new methods for ensuring stability rather than resorting into armed force”, he said.

He also added that in spite of more than decade long war on terror, the likelihood of terrorist attacks has increased this year taking back the small gains earned in the previous years.