A report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its October 2001 visit to Bahrain.
Executive Summary
A delegation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Bahrain from 19 to 24 October 2001. It comprised two members of the Group, its Vice-Chairman, Mr. Louis Joinet, and Mrs. Leïla Zerrougui (Algeria), accompanied by the Group’s secretary. Throughout its visit, the delegation enjoyed the full cooperation of the Bahraini Government. The authorities granted it unrestricted access to all prisons and police station holding cells. It was able to speak freely and without witnesses to prisoners it selected at random.
A report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its October 2001 visit to Bahrain.
Executive Summary
A delegation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Bahrain from 19 to 24 October 2001. It comprised two members of the Group, its Vice-Chairman, Mr. Louis Joinet, and Mrs. Leïla Zerrougui (Algeria), accompanied by the Group’s secretary. Throughout its visit, the delegation enjoyed the full cooperation of the Bahraini Government. The authorities granted it unrestricted access to all prisons and police station holding cells. It was able to speak freely and without witnesses to prisoners it selected at random.
The delegation met Government figures on various occasions. In Manama, it met the Foreign Minister, the Interior Minister, the governor of the capital (Manama), the Director of Legal Affairs, the Chairman and members of the Shura (Consultative) Council’s Human Rights Committee, members of the committee responsible for giving effect to the National Action Charter, judicial officers and officials of the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs, the Director General of Prisons and members of the Ministry of the Interior’s commission on human rights. As regards non-governmental sources, the delegation had working meetings with the President of the Bar association, several representatives of female civil society and a delegation from the Bahraini Human Rights Society.
The Working Group considers this visit to be one of the most encouraging it has undertaken, as regards both the letter and the spirit of its mandate. The release of all the prisoners, including those on whose circumstances the Group had commented, set the seal on a successful mission.
In its report, the Working Group makes the following recommendations:
- (a) The Government should see to it that account is taken of insolvent debtors’ good faith; it should arrange to have the laws permitting incarceration for failure to pay civil debts repealed;
- (b) The Working Group recommends better safeguards for the rights of foreigners subject to the “free visas” scheme, and that the Government give effect to articles 198 and 302 bis of the Criminal Code and bring to justice those “sponsors” who break the rules and abuse the scheme;
- (c) The Government should review the legislation governing courts martial and bring it into line with universal standards;
- (d) The Working Group recommends the Government to extend the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court to cover minors aged between 15 and 18, and amend the existing law to require that minors in this category are assisted by counsel, to allow for rehabilitative measures appropriate to their age and needs, and to have them held separately from adults in prisons;
- (e) The Working Group invites the Government to allow women to become judicial officers;
- (f) The Working Group also recommends effective legal provision to prevent and punish violence against women, especially domestic violence;
- (g) High priority should be assigned to the passage of the bills now in preparation to replace the Societies and Clubs Act of 1987 and the Press and Publication Act of 1978; and, lastly,
- (h) The authorities should take steps to facilitate contact between detainees and the local consular services of their countries of origin, and encourage the countries concerned to provide the best possible response to requests for consular assistance.
The full report can be downloaded from the link below