Central Administrator – AHN Administrator
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) – Bahraini human rights activists were allegedly denied entry to a high level meeting called by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Brussels on Friday. The activists planned to discuss the Bahrain Human Rights Report submitted to the Council with three U.N. experts.
“Twenty participants from different countries attended the meeting. We were the only Bahraini activists not allowed to meet officials from the government and NGO’s,” the Bahrain Human Rights Society’s Secretary-General Abdulla Al Derazi said.
Central Administrator – AHN Administrator
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) – Bahraini human rights activists were allegedly denied entry to a high level meeting called by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Brussels on Friday. The activists planned to discuss the Bahrain Human Rights Report submitted to the Council with three U.N. experts.
“Twenty participants from different countries attended the meeting. We were the only Bahraini activists not allowed to meet officials from the government and NGO’s,” the Bahrain Human Rights Society’s Secretary-General Abdulla Al Derazi said.
He added that the Chairman of the U.N. council called the meeting to discuss the human rights records of 48 countries, examining them 16 nations at a time. The Kingdom of Bahrain is in the first batch of countries to be reviewed on Monday in Geneva.
Al Derazi is accompanied by activist Nabeel Rajab from the dissolved Bahrain Center for Human Rights and members of the Committee of Martyrs and Victims of Torture and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).
“The draft action plan prepared by the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions transparency with NGO’s. This contradicts with our exclusion from the meeting. The FIDH has contacted the Bahrain Ambassador to Geneva on the issue,” Al Derazi said.
The activists will travel to Geneva from Brussels on Monday, when the Bahrain human rights record will be reviewed in a three hour interactive session at the Council.
