Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 31, 2003
On February 14, the country became a monarchy with a Constitution that reinstated a legislative body, one of whose chambers is elected. The new Constitution also confirmed the King as hereditary ruler and strengthened royal executive authority. According to the National Action Charter, the King is the head of the three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial. The Constitution gives the elected Council of Deputies a role in considering legislation, but most legislative authority still resides with the King and he appoints members of the Shura (Consultative) Council. The King chairs the Higher Judicial Council.
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 31, 2003On February 14, the country became a monarchy with a Constitution that reinstated a legislative body, one of whose chambers is elected. The new Constitution also confirmed the King as hereditary ruler and strengthened royal executive authority. According to the National Action Charter, the King is the head of the three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial. The Constitution gives the elected Council of Deputies a role in considering legislation, but most legislative authority still resides with the King and he appoints members of the Shura (Consultative) Council. The King chairs the Higher Judicial Council.
The Al-Khalifa extended family has ruled the country since the late 18th century and continued to dominate all facets of its society and government. The King, Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, governs the country with the assistance of his uncle, the Prime Minister; his son, the Crown Prince; and an appointed cabinet of ministers. Members of the Al-Khalifa family hold 9 out of 24 cabinet positions, including all “strategic ministries.” The partially elected National Assembly consists of a Council of Deputies and an appointed Consultative Council. The courts were subject to government pressure and occasional accusations of corruption, and there have been very few instances of people trying to bring cases against the Government. However, the courts have ruled against the Government in the past.
Citizens belong to the Shi’a and Sunni sects of Islam, with the Shi’a constituting approximately two-thirds of the indigenous population. However, Sunnis predominate politically and economically because the ruling family is Sunni and is supported by the armed forces, the security services, and influential Sunni and Shi’a merchant families who benefit from a relatively open economy under the Al-Khalifas. Apart from violent demonstrations in April, there were few incidents of political unrest and there has not been prolonged unrest since 1996. In May slightly more than half of the country’s eligible voters, both men and women, participated in the first elections in more than a quarter of a century, electing members of municipal councils and, in October, electing 40 members of the Council of Deputies.
The Ministry of Interior was responsible for public security. It controlled the public security force (police) and the extensive security service, which were responsible for maintaining internal order. The Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) was responsible for defending against external threats. It also monitored the internal security situation. The security forces committed a few serious human rights abuses during the year.
The country has a population of approximately 650,000, an estimated one-third of whom are noncitizens, many of whom are Asian workers. It has a mixed economy, is a regional financial and business center, and depends on tourism from Saudi Arabia.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens in a number of areas and improved significantly in other areas, particularly concerning respect for political rights; however, its record remained poor in other areas, particularly with respect to impunity of government officials and the independence of the judiciary. The Government denied citizens the right to change their government; however, the election of the Council of Deputies should be a significant step forward in improving citizens’ ability to effect change in their government.
All remaining political prisoners were freed and all exiles officially allowed to return in 2001. Although more than 1000 persons still faced problems obtaining proper documentation during the year, the Government managed to resolve these problems and issued the appropriate documents by the end of the year. The Government also assisted in the return of approximately 300 persons that had been forced into exile in the past decades.
Impunity remained a problem, and there were no known instances of security forces personnel being punished for abuses of authority committed during the year or in the past; however, according to the Interior Ministry, its Disciplinary Court convicted a total of 25 police officers during the year and in 2001 for criminal activities. Some were incarcerated. The Interior Ministry also referred 77 additional cases to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution. Under the new Constitution, the judiciary is nominally independent, but it still remained subject to government pressure. The press published credible allegations that some judges were corrupt. The Government continued to infringe to some extent on citizens’ privacy rights.
The Government imposed some restrictions on the freedoms of speech and the press, and restricted freedoms of assembly and association. These restrictions increased during the first half of the year. The founding of the country’s first independent newspaper in September marked an improvement for freedom of the press. The Government also imposed some limits on freedom of religion and freedom of movement. In July the Government registered the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the country’s second human rights NGO. Violence against women and discrimination based on sex, religion, and ethnicity remained problems. The promulgation in September of a law on unions, which gave workers for the first time the right to organize and bargain collectively, was a significant improvement in the rights of workers. This and other legislation also improved the legal status of foreign workers. Abuse of foreign workers occurred, including numerous instances of forced labor and some instances of trafficking. Bahrain was invited by the Community of Democracies’ (CD) Convening Group to attend the November 2002 second CD Ministerial Meeting in Seoul, Republic of Korea, as a participant.For the full report click here.