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Summary: General overview of Bahrain's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights
Status of the CRC in national law
Article 37 of the Constitution of Bahrain states that properly ratified treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have the force of law. However, as of 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the Child was unaware of any instances in which the Convention has been raised or cited in Bahraini courts, raising questions about the Convention’s applicability in the judicial sphere.
Constitution- Although Part III the Constitution of Bahrain contains a number of rights provisions that relate to the rights of all citizens, only one article makes specific reference to the rights of children:
- Art. 5(a) provides that the law “shall protect motherhood and childhood within the family” and protect and defend the young from “exploitation and moral, physical and spiritual neglect”. The subsection also requires the government to “take particular care of the physical, mental and moral growth of youth”.
Legislation- there is no consolidated or comprehensive Children's Act in Bahraini law. Rather, legal matters related to children are addressed through codified legislation, individual acts, decree law and decisions of relevant governmental bodies. As a result of its former relationship with Britain, aspects of the Common Law and Equity also remain, as well as uncodified Sharia law. It should be noted that the judicial system of Bahrain is divided into Civil Law Courts and Sharia Law Courts, the former broadly holding jurisdiction over non-Muslims and the latter over Muslims. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to:
- The Criminal Code
- The Code of Criminal Procedure
- The Civil Code
- Juveniles Act No. 17 of 1967
- Act No. 1 of 2008 on combating the trafficking of persons and the establishment of a national committee to combat trafficking in persons
- Act No. 18 of 2006 concerning social security
Legal Research:
The Government of Bahrain maintains an official website in Arabic and English (http://www.bahrain.bh/wps/portal). Recent legislation is published online in Arabic through the legal affairs section of the Government’s website (http://www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/LatestLegislations.aspx), while a selection of legislation is available in English through the World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxwebah.htm) and the Constitution is available in English through the University of Richmond (http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/Bahrain.pdf). A comprehensive legal research guide has been prepared by the GlobaLex initiative at New York University (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Bahrain.htm), and both the U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/bahrain.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/bh/) also offer portals with links to many legal research and government websites.
Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Case Law Research
The Constitutional Court of Bahrain maintains an official website that offers full text judgments in Arabic and English (http://www.constitutional-court.org.bh/CCB/default.aspx).
Compliance with the CRC
In its 2011 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted Bahrain’s ongoing legal reform efforts, but expressed concern at the delay of several important pieces of children’s rights legislation and feared that the drawn-out process of adopting new laws meant that national legislation was not yet fully compliant with the Convention. Moreover, the Committee also worried about “the narrow interpretations of some domestic laws and the fact that the provisions of the Convention have not been invoked or referred to directly in courts, which may impede the enjoyment of some human rights enshrined in the Convention.”
In depth analysis:
In its Concluding Observations on Bahrain reports, the Committee identified the broad area of juvenile justice as a matter of concern. Specifically, the Committee highlighted the young age of criminal responsibility (7 years), allegations that life sentences had been imposed for crimes committed under the age of 18, and the issue of ill-treatment of children within the criminal justice system. More generally, the Committee recommended that the State consider the use of alternatives to deprivation of liberty for child offenders, as well as taking steps to improve access to justice for child victims of crime.
Discrimination has also been a persistent theme in Bahrain’s reporting process to the Committee. A broad range of discriminatory practices exist both socially and in law. While girls can marry at 15 (three years younger than boys), and children of Bahraini mothers do not have the same access to nationality as those of a Bahraini father, discrimination against girls and women is prevalent prevalent in a throughout society. In its recommendations of 2011, the Committee advised the Bahraini state to conduct a review of legislation and practice to combat de jure and de facto discrimination.
Current legal reform projects
As of March 2010, a number of legislative reform projects were under way, including the passage of a Domestic Violence Bill and a Child Rights and Education Bill.