BAHRAIN: Children's Rights in the UN Special Procedures' Reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports on the website here: http://www.crin.org/resources/index.asp.

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

عر بية

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Requested visits

(R in 2006) SR on migrants

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Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

(E/CN.4/2002/77/Add.2)

Country visit: 9-24 October 2001
Report published: 5 March 2002

Pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 17 of 1976, minors aged under 15 are tried by a special body, the Juvenile Court.

Juvenile justice

The administration of juvenile justice is currently regulated by Legislative Decree No. 17 of 1976, which establishes a Juvenile Court competent to hear cases involving minors up to the age of 15 who have committed an offence or are somehow at risk. These minors are not criminally responsible in the eyes of the law: "A person who is not more than 15 years of age at the time of committing an act constituting a crime shall not be held liable. In this case, he shall be subjected to the provisions of the juveniles' law" (Criminal Code, art. 32). (paragraph 68)

This is consistent with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the "Beijing Rules"). The rules really are applied in practice, as the Working Group's delegation was able to ascertain when it visited the juvenile rehabilitation centre run by the Ministry of the Interior in Isa Town. The Centre has the necessary personnel and facilities to provide appropriate care for girls and boys who are placed there by order of the Juvenile Court. Current procedure stipulates that a minor charged with an offence must be represented by a lawyer and that the only measures the court may apply are those intended to bring about his re-education or reabsorption into society. The Centre is run by women police officers assisted by women teachers, sociologists, psychologists and other specialized staff. The children attend school and then undergo vocational training. They play sports, participate in outside activities, receive visits and may be allowed to spend weekends with their families. (paragraph 69)

Juveniles between 15 and 18 years of age are criminally responsible and may be tried in the ordinary courts in the same way as adults. Article 70 of the Criminal Code stipulates that minority is a defence and an extenuating circumstance for juveniles aged between 15 and 18, and article 71 provides for reduced penalties: "If there is an extenuating justification for an offence punishable by a death sentence, the penalty shall be reduced to jail or imprisonment for one year. If the penalty for such offence is life or term imprisonment it shall be reduced to the punishment for a misdemeanour unless the law otherwise provides." (paragraph 70)

From this general formula, which is not specifically aimed at juveniles, it follows that whereas minors may not be sentenced to death, they can be sentenced to harsh penalties, especially for criminal offences. The courts have considerable latitude in the matter and nothing prevents them from imposing the same penalty on a minor as on his adult co-principals. For example, the delegation spoke to individuals serving heavy sentences for offences committed when they were only 16, and in some cases the court passed the same sentence on them as on their co-principals or accomplices. (paragraph 71)

The 1964 Penitentiary Code currently in force makes no specific provision for prisoners under the age of 18, except to say that persons under 16 years of age may not be chained up (art. 9). The prison authorities explained to the delegation that prisoners over the age of 16 were housed with adults; segregation of adults and juveniles was only applied in the case of under 16s, who are categorized as remand prisoners and treated as such. In this connection, the Working Group, while noting that conditions of detention in Bahraini prisons are satisfactory overall, reminds the authorities that under international law anyone below 18 years of age is considered a minor, and that under the Beijing Rules minors aged 18, even when criminally liable, must be tried by a special court which seeks to safeguard their best interests and takes account of their age by applying specially developed standards. Their segregation from adults is a requirement of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (1990). (paragraph 72)

Citizenship: Bahraini women married to bidouns (expatriates) cannot transmit their nationality to their children. (paragraph 106)

Recommendation 4

Protection of minors aged 15 and over: the legal rules applying to minors aged between 15 and 18 should be brought into line with international standards. The Working Group recommends the Government to extend the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court to cover minors aged between 15 and 18 and allow the Court to apply the criminal penalties laid down for offenders in that age category where appropriate. Current law should also be amended to require that minors in this category are assisted by counsel at all stages of the proceedings, to allow for rehabilitative measures appropriate to their age and needs, and to have them held separately from adults in prisons. (paragraph 116)

Countries

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