New York, Nov. 15 -- A group of independent UN human rights experts is calling for a "paradigm shift" in Qatar to protect people in the Gulf State from arbitrary detention.

The assessment by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention came in a statement on Thursday following a 10-day visit to the country, where they interviewed more than 200 people who have been deprived of their liberty."Detention is currently the general rule in cases such as debt, adultery, intimate relations out of wedlock and drug use", they said, in presenting their preliminary findings.Qatar urged to implement civil rights covenantQatar joined the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in May 2018 which the Working Group hailed as "a major step forw...