ADHRB Director Husain Abdulla traveled to Geneva, Switzerland this week to observe the UN Human Rights Council’s 21st Session this week. During the session, the Council adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Bahrain. In conducting the UPR, the Human Rights Council (HRC) made 176 recommendations to Bahrain regarding the status of its compliance with its human rights treaty obligations. Of those, Bahrain fully accepted 145 recommendations and partially accepted 13.
During the discussion on Bahrain, several speakers, including the United States, called upon the Government of Bahrain to investigate and prosecute abuses committed by officials during last year’s protests, and to put an end to ongoing abuses. The United States also urged Bahrain to fully implement the recommendations by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), an independent body sanctioned and commissioned by Bahrain to recommend structural, legal, and other changes to avoid a repeat of last year’s abuses against protesters. The BICI issued its report and recommendations on November 23, 2011.
