by Dylan Bowman on Tuesday, 03 July 2007
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) gives to Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa (right) the 2006 Special Citation and Habitat Scroll of Honour.
Human rights groups have slammed the UN’s decision to honour Bahrain’s Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa for his urban development policies.
Sheikh Khalifa was given the UN’s 2006 Special Citation of the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award on Monday for his “impressive efforts in lifting the living standards of all Bahrainis through an active focus on poverty alleviation and modernisation while preserving the cultural heritage [of his country]”.
by Dylan Bowman on Tuesday, 03 July 2007
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) gives to Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa (right) the 2006 Special Citation and Habitat Scroll of Honour.
Human rights groups have slammed the UN’s decision to honour Bahrain’s Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa for his urban development policies.
Sheikh Khalifa was given the UN’s 2006 Special Citation of the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award on Monday for his “impressive efforts in lifting the living standards of all Bahrainis through an active focus on poverty alleviation and modernisation while preserving the cultural heritage [of his country]”.
The Habitat Scroll of Honour is the UN’s most prestigious award and is only given to those deemed instrumental in lifting living standards in urban centres around the world.
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However, US group Human Rights Watch said Sheikh Khalifa should not have received the award, claiming “a person with a human rights record as poor as that of Sheikh Khalifa should not be getting a UN award of any kind”.
In a statement, the group alleged that Sheikh Khalifa has presided over “several decades of severe political repression in the country, including systematic torture, arbitrary arrest and the forced exile of political opponents”.
Human Rights Watch also cited claims by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights that the government has in fact failed to solve the country’s housing problems.
“Even from the narrow perspective of rights to adequate housing, Sheikh Khalifa appears to be a dubious choice,” said Steve Crawshaw, UN advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
Speaking in Geneva, Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development Fatma Al-Beloushi dismissed the accusations leveled against Sheikh Khalifa, stating that charges of this kind should be accompanied by evidence.
“We have been working hard to make Bahrain an open society where everyone has free expression,” she said.
According to the UN, Bahrain’s investment from 1980 to 2000 has resulted in the creation of over 30,000 subsidised homes and 9,000 building loans.
