UPR 2nd Cycle: Bahrain delegation fails to acknowledge ongoing human rights violations

Summary: In Bahrain's second Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the government failed to acknowledge ongoing human rights violations in the country.

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is currently monitoring the 13th session reviews from Geneva. They sent the following report on Bahrain:

On 21 May 2012 the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review commenced with the thirteenth session of the working group, opening with an examination of Bahrain. Anticipation for the commencement of the second cycle was marked by concern that the process would involve the repetition of recommendations accepted during the first round of reviews. However, these worries were not realised as recent events in Bahrain dominated discussion, shifting focus away from the last review.

The delegation of Bahrain approached the review against the backdrop of year-long anti-government protests that created numerous and diverse human rights concerns. In this context, the opening statement of Bahrain’s Minister of State for Human Rights Affairs, Mr Salah Bin Ali Mohamed Abdulrahman, was bemusing. He spoke vaguely yet optimistically of Bahrain’s ‘culture of respect’ for human rights, delicately avoiding mention of the protests beyond allusions to ‘unfortunate events’ and ‘certain occurrences’. Throughout the review, the Bahraini delegation tried to direct attention to the future when questioned about human rights violations related to the protests, defeating the regularly reiterated commitment of States to a ‘frank and productive dialogue’.

Nevertheless, most of the 67 States on the speakers’ list remained persistent in raising the immediate and severe human rights concerns facing Bahrain. While the introduction of a 1 minute 49 second time limit[1] did not lead all representatives to dispense with flowery congratulations and formalities, most posed their questions directly and relatively quickly, focussing on the need to:

• Promote the rights of women, gender equality and implement CEDAW
• Introduce legislation protecting the rights of children, particularly the citizenship rights of children of Bahraini mothers and non-Bahraini fathers
• Reform industrial relations, particularly by protecting the rights of migrant workers and introducing an anti-trafficking policy
• Protect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and release civilians detained on related grounds. In particular, the cases of Abdulhadi al-Khwaja and Nabeel Rajab were cited
• Address allegations of torture and educate law enforcement officials on human rights. The delegates also confirmed the importance of inviting the Special Rapporteur on Torture to Bahrain
• Ensure the freedom of the media
• Conduct new trials for defendants convicted in military courts
• Ratify the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, Rome Statute and optional protocols to CEDAW and CAT
• Abolish the death penalty.

Read more on the review here.

Further Information

You can find out which other States are up for review at the 13th session, together with all CRIN's children's rights reference reports, on our UPR 13th Session page.