Bahrain Rights Group Urges Lifting Restrictions On Banned NGO
May 19, 2008 10:28 p.m. EST
Sandeep Singh Grewal – AHN Middle East Correspondent
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) – A local human rights group has urged authorities here to lift restrictions on a non-government organization reportedly dissolved after being accused of inciting hatred against the regime.
Bahrain Rights Group Urges Lifting Restrictions On Banned NGO
May 19, 2008 10:28 p.m. EST
Sandeep Singh Grewal – AHN Middle East Correspondent
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) – A local human rights group has urged authorities here to lift restrictions on a non-government organization reportedly dissolved after being accused of inciting hatred against the regime.
The Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) submitted its recommendations on Monday to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nizar Al Baharna, prior to consideration of Bahrain’s candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council in New York on Wednesday.
“Banning human rights organizations depicts a negative image to the country. Human rights defenders should be allowed to join any group whether local or international. It is their right of freedom of association,” BHRS General Secretary Abdulla Al Derazi told AHN Media Corp.
He was referring to the defunct Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), which was dissolved by the Minister of Labour, Dr Majeed Al Alawi, in 2004 on the grounds that its actions contravened the Law on Societies.
The centre was then one of the four human rights bodies operating in Bahrain. However members of BCHR continued their activities by being part of several international groups such as the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and CARAM Asia.
The Political Societies law was ratified by authorities in 2005 after the incident. The law says that only Bahrainis with no criminal records can be members of such societies. They must be members of only one political society to avoid clashes between two or more organisations.
The law bans judges, diplomats, Bahrain Defense Force, and Interior and Public Prosecution personnel from becoming members of political societies.
The societies have to respect the Constitution and the Kingdom’s religious and cultural principles. They cannot associate with any foreign political organizations and cannot accept donation of more than $26,595.
This is the first time since BCHR was dissolved that BHRS has urged Bahraini officials to lift the restrictions.
Recommendations submitted by BHRS include ensuring that any measure taken to combat terrorism, including the law, complies with international human rights law. In addition, the group raised the issue of allegations raised by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the UNHCR of prejudice against domestic workes and lack of their protection under the Labour code.
Amendments to the nationality law, which only grants citizenship to wives and children of Bahraini men, and enactment of laws to tackle the reported failure to act on violence against women were also raised by the group.
BHRS, which has a prison monitoring committee, was the first rights group to be allowed to visit the Jaw Prison on two occasions in late 2005. The members mentioned in their recommendations to allow access by independent monitors to all places of detention here without prior notice to the authorities.
According to the rules, a country can be elected to the Council if approved by at least 97 members of the General Assembly. Fifteen new members are set to be elected for the seat at the Council.
Two NGOs from Geneva and the US-UN Watch and Freedom House released a joint report in which they stated that Bahrain, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were not qualified to be elected, according to Agence France-Presse news service.
Al Derazi, the BHRS general secretary, refuted the reports and said that Bahrain had a good chance to be elected provided it commits to its pledges and recommendations by the NGOs.
“There will be more responsibility if the Kingdom is elected. The minister expressed interest in our recommendation and we are hoping something transpires,” he said.
Al Baharna told the Council in April, when Bahrain’s human rights record were reviewed, that the Bahraini cabinet had approved a move to establish a National Human Rights Commission by end of 2008.
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