Italy – Venice – 21-23 July 2005
Intervention by Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, president , Bahrain center for Human Rights:
Italy – Venice – 21-23 July 2005
Intervention by Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, president , Bahrain center for Human Rights:
I have come from Bahrain, which is the country that is displayed as the model for reform in the region, this was repeated by the American president. I apologize if my speech is not clear for my teeth got broken a month ago in front of the Royal Council in Bahrain, and one of my teeth has fallen off today as you can see. I was also beaten up a week ago on the head and back, I was one of the ten’s of Bahrainis who went on a demonstration in front of the House of Representatives. All this happened while I was contributing in peaceful activities for the unemployed. I would like to mention here the main reason the government gave for closing the Bahrain Center for Human Rights 8 months ago, which was that the Center organized an international petition to demand for political contribution for Kuwaiti women. The Bahraini government regarded this as an involvement in the matters of other countries.
Dividing the countries of the Middle East into open and closed to change and reform is not precise, in reality they should be categorized to countries who oppose the Americans and should be politically changed like Iraq, and others whose governments are allies to the west and they are only subjected to some reforms regarding human rights and economic globalization, and not at all real democracy, Bahrain is a model of this.
In the matter of the election systems, which we are discussing today, I have personally contributed to preparing a study for comparing the election systems in six Arab countries, and Bahrain was relatively one of the best, but here comes the contradiction between the good system which serves the political propaganda for the regime which works within a deformed democratic regime. In Bahrain, according to the constitution which was issued by the new king and blessed by the Americans, the king controls the three branches of government in a direct way, whether its by forming them personally or in its decisions and he appoints the constitutional government officials and the higher judicial counsel and half of the parliament. The other half of the parliament are elected within an unjust division which marginalizes the opposition and the Shiite majority.
And the ruling family in Bahrain controls the main influential positions in the executive authority and the judicial system, and they control the economy, the citizen cannot change the government in a peaceful manner, and there is no party pluralism.
Two days ago the parliament, which is controlled by the government, issued a new law for the political societies. This law puts societies, of which some represent a majority of the people and the opposition, the law puts them under complete control of the government. Control in the formation procedure and restricting its activity and the funding and the party media. And also in regard to the dissolution of the political societies temporarily or permanently. The new law prohibits the societies from any activity outside Bahrain, and also the funding from foreign sources even if governmental or for educating and training purposes.
This arbitrary law has been approved by the parliament, a parliament which was formed with a relatively good election system. The opinions and proposals of the political and other societies were not taken into consideration. The political societies have decided since yesterday to temporarily close in protest to this law, and the biggest societies are considering to dissolve completely.
Concerning the recommendations, in addition to what was mentioned yesterday I would add the following:
- We should not exaggerate in looking at the election system and observing the voting at the expense of the revelation of a democratic process reality. Therefore the surveillance reports on election systems must point out the main flaws in the democratic process. For example the citizens right to change the government in a peaceful manner, and party pluralism, and the independence of the judicial system, and the separation of powers, and everything else that is necessary for a democratic process to take place.
- Creating strategies and programs to reach to the existing political and semi-political powers which could develop into political parties, taking into consideration that it would be natural for these groups to tend to be of a sectarian, religious or tribal nature during this transition phase due to the nature of the societies in the region. On the other hand, depending on foreign support and funding to implement alternative groups, parties and figures which have no standing in real life, should be avoided. Because that would result in the re-occurrence of what has been happening in the region during the past decades, and will increase the foreign influence but wouldn’t lead to a real democracy, political reform or stability in the long run.