On 22 September, Said Yousif al-Muhafdha, acting vice-president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), delivered an Item 5 oral intervention at the 27th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva under Item 5. Please continue reading for full remarks or click here to download a PDF.
الرجاء الضغط هنا لقراءة هذه الرسالة باللغة العربي
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Mr. President,
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, with the support of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory, and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, would like to call the Council’s attention to Bahrain’s engagement with the international human rights mechanisms of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture.
The Government of Bahrain acceded to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights in 2006 and the Convention against Torture in 1998. By the terms of its accession to these treaties, Bahrain is obligated to periodically report its progress in implementing its treaty obligations. Despite these obligations, however, Bahrain’s initial report to the Committee on Human Rights is now seven years overdue. Additionally, Bahrain submitted its last report to the Committee against Torture in 2005; its follow-up report to the Committee is also seven years past due. In the meantime, Bahrain has systematically violated its obligations under the ICCPR and CAT. Human rights defenders in Bahrain regularly report instances of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and denials of the rights to freedom of expression and association. Allegations of torture and the use of confessions derived from torture to secure convictions in Bahraini courts are also significantly widespread.
On the occasion of the 27th Session of the Human Rights Council, we call on Bahrain to adhere to its obligations under the ICCPR and the Convention against Torture, and submit timely reporting to their respective treaty bodies.
We additionally call on Bahrain to allow for the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, including the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, unusual, or degrading treatment or punishment, to visit the country in order to conduct independent and neutral assessments of the human rights situation therein.
Thank you.
