Interrogating the Disadvantaged and Human rights defenders
24 July 2010
In a new precedent that aims at suppressing freedom of opinion and expression, and which demonstrates the Authority’s oppression in listening to its critics, and its policy in depriving and denying the Bahraini children who are from a Bahraini mother their right to a Bahraini nationality, the National Security Apparatus (Intelligence) summoned two female activists from the Bahrain’s Women Association to interrogate them about the assistance they provided to Al-Jazeera news channel in holding a TV interview it had produced about children who are deprived of citizenship in the Arab World.
Interrogating the Disadvantaged and Human rights defenders
24 July 2010
In a new precedent that aims at suppressing freedom of opinion and expression, and which demonstrates the Authority’s oppression in listening to its critics, and its policy in depriving and denying the Bahraini children who are from a Bahraini mother their right to a Bahraini nationality, the National Security Apparatus (Intelligence) summoned two female activists from the Bahrain’s Women Association to interrogate them about the assistance they provided to Al-Jazeera news channel in holding a TV interview it had produced about children who are deprived of citizenship in the Arab World.
Two activists[1] in the Bahrain’s Women Association received two phone calls from the National Security Apparatus (Intelligence) demanding them to immediately attend the Investigation Building, without giving reasons or the subject intended for investigation. One of the activists demanded the members of the Apparatus to send a summons according to the official framework which indicates who the summoning party is and the reasons behind the summons, instead of summoning via the phone, which violates the legal norms of summons which are carried out by security institutes, especially that the summons was made on a Friday, 2/7/2010, which is the weekly day off in all public and private departments and state institutions. Besides the two activists, two disadvantaged Bahraini females, whom Al-Jazeera Channel interviewed, were also summoned, and they were a sample of mothers whose children have been deprived of the Bahraini citizenship.
Al-Jazeera Channel
Al-Jazeera Channel previewed on 9/7/2010 an episode from the program’s case, and which is the program whose production caused summoning the activists. The topic addresses the phenomenon of denial of citizenship for the children of female citizens in some Arab countries. The Bahraini Authorities had suspended Al-Jazeera’s activities last May and prohibited the channel’s crew from entering the country on the background of previewing a documentary broadcasted by Al-Jazeera Channel on 17 May 2010, within the weekly program “Economy and People” which addressed poverty in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Ministry of Culture and Information justified its decision at that time that the news channel did not respect the laws governing the press sector, clarifying that the suspension will continue until an agreement on a memorandum of understanding outlining the relationship between the ministry and the channel in question is reached. The BCHR believes that pressurizing Al-Jazeera Channel to look into the memorandum of understanding is intended to set more restrictive constraints on this Channel as is the case with the rest of the channels, news agencies and correspondents working in Bahrain, and which aims for the dominance of the Bahraini Authorities and maintaining their control over the information sector and excluding all programs that do not correspond to their policy. The Bahraini Authorities practice restrictions on the foreign channels and news agencies and its correspondents in Bahrain through the Department of Foreign Media, and which is part of the Ministry of Information only in form while it actually operates as part of the National Security Apparatus (Intelligence).
The two activists who have been summoned are from the Bahrain’s Women Association for Human Development and which is a non-political social association, and which is considered one of the most active women associations in Bahrain. Despite its recent establishment, the association’s name managed to emerge on the local and international level, especially for the type of programs it is active in and which exceeds the traditional role of women associations in the Arab region. As well as defending women’s rights, the association has been active in the environmental field through its program (the environmental citizenship), in addition to the topic of human development by holding several conferences to discuss the UN report on human development. Its name also emerged when coordinating a national, Gulf and Arab campaign under the title: “My nationality is a right for me and my children”, and which aims at defending and urging for the children of the Bahraini mother to obtain their mother’s nationality. Due to all these continuous local and regional activities, the Bahrain’s Women Association acquired a consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and it is the first and only Bahraini Association to be granted this membership.
Naturalization and Deprivation of Nationality
Dealing with the issue of naturalization and the deprivation of nationality is considered one of the multiple aspects of discrimination in Bahrain. While the country’s King had declared closing the file of the deprived of nationality, there are still many who are deprived of the nationality who have not obtained their rights to a Bahraini citizenship, although their mothers are Bahrainis and both their mothers and them were born and raised in this country, and this takes place at a time where the Authority openly brings thousands of tribe members from some of the Arab and Asian countries and grants them the Bahraini citizenship in an illegal manner. The apparent discrimination against women in the citizenship law that is currently being implemented is incompatible with the obligations of Bahrain towards The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and The Convention on the Rights of the Child whose seventh Article states, “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents” and it also states that, “States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless,” and the tenth Article of the same Convention indicates that, “Applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party for the purpose of family reunification shall be dealt with by States Parties in a positive, humane and expeditious manner.”
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights recommends:
· Granting the civil society institutes the freedom to meet all the media agencies in order to shed light on its humane message;
· Stop targeting the activists of the civil society institutes and to provide the appropriate conditions for them to carry out their social role to the fullest, without targeting or restricting them;
· Lifting the ban imposed on the activities of Al-Jazeera channel and to provide the appropriate environment for the press and media institutions to carry out their role freely and independently;
· Granting the right to nationality to the children of the female citizen on the basis that it is the right of the child and his or her mother, guaranteed by the international conventions of human rights.
[1] The BCHR is retaining their names