On the World Mental Health Day: Bahraini prisoners are in danger

Observed on 10 October, the World Mental Health Day comes this year at a time when our daily lives have changed dramatically as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The past months have brought with it many challenges: for the health care workers; for the students adapting to taking classes from home and anxious about their futures; and for the workers whose livelihoods are at risk.

In Bahrain, the mental health is one of the problems of prisoners who suffer from overcrowding in prisons and fear in the absence of health care. According to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, “the health-care service shall consist of an interdisciplinary team with sufficient qualified personnel acting in full clinical independence and shall encompass sufficient expertise in psychology and psychiatry”.

Therefore, BCHR calls on the Bahraini government to:

  • Invest in mental health programs, in line with the goal of this year’s World Mental Health Day campaign, which is to increase investment in mental health;
  • Provide health care to all prisoners;
  • Release all human rights prisoners;
  • Implement the Alternative Penal Code.