Gulf Daily News – Vol XXVII NO. 303 – Monday 17 January 2005
By ROBERT SMITH
HUMAN rights activists will send a shadow report to the UN to accompany Bahrain’s official submission on efforts to combat racial discrimination in the country.
Both will be considered by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which comes under the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The shadow document has been compiled by members of the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).
They have been granted observer status at the 66th session of the committee, which starts at the UN offices in Geneva next month.
Gulf Daily News – Vol XXVII NO. 303 – Monday 17 January 2005
By ROBERT SMITH
HUMAN rights activists will send a shadow report to the UN to accompany Bahrain’s official submission on efforts to combat racial discrimination in the country.
Both will be considered by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which comes under the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The shadow document has been compiled by members of the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).
They have been granted observer status at the 66th session of the committee, which starts at the UN offices in Geneva next month.
It is understood that reports on racial discrimination in Bahrain will be considered on March 3 and 4.
Human rights activists say they are submitting their own report because of gaps in the government’s document.
“The government report speaks in general, but does not talk about specific issues,” said Nabeel Rajab, who helped draft the shadow report and will attend the UN meeting as an observer.
“For example, it does not talk specifically about women or privileges that some people have over others.
“The UN says that non-governmental organisations which have seen the country report and have comments on it should follow-up with their own shadow report.”
Bahrain submitted its document to the committee in September, which consists of two periodic reports that were originally due on April 26, 2001 and 2003 respectively.
Countries that have signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination are required to submit such reports to the committee, which then draws up its own observations and recommendations.
When Bahrain signed the convention in March 1990 it did so on the premise that it did not recognise Israel, which has also signed the document.
The document supplied by the government to the UN highlights efforts to combat discrimination in the country through education, rights set out in the National Constitution and the signing of international treaties, among other things.