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Human Rights Commissioner: Bahraini human rights report is an important document in both length and frankness
The Bahraini National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) published its first annual report in September.
In this connection, Federal Government Human Rights Commissioner Christoph Strässer issued the following statement in Berlin today (24 September):
The human rights situation in Bahrain is the focus of international attention time and again, especially as a result of the violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces. The first annual report by the National Institution for Human Rights in Bahrain is an important document on the human rights situation – not only due to its length of around 200 pages but also its frankness.
The report could become an enduring point of reference for social consensus in Bahrain. However, this will require all stakeholders – Government and Parliament, to which the report assigns extensive tasks, as well as civil society – to work in the spirit of the report and further strengthen human rights in Bahrain.
Background information
The Bahraini National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) published its first annual report in September. In just under 200 pages, not only the political, judicial and administrative spheres but also education and environmental protection are examined from a human rights viewpoint. In the annual report, NIHR outlines what it expects of Government, Parliament and the judicial system in the human rights sphere. It also expresses clear views on contentious issues such as naturalisation, deprivation of citizenship or freedom of assembly.
With regard to the violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces, for example, the NIHR highlights the discrepancy between the penalties imposed on these two groups, puts forward specific recommendations on new regulations regarding the right of assembly and demands that the ban on public assembly in the capital Manama be lifted.
The NIHR is Bahrain’s national human rights organisation and has a broad mandate which not only envisages reports and the issuing of recommendations but also, for example, makes it possible for it to organise visits to prisons. Gradual changes to the law have brought the NIHR closer to fulfilling the Paris Principles for national human rights institutions.
