Bahraini NGOs, opposition launch truth and reconciliation panel
By DPA
Jun 27, 2007, 2:51 GMT
Manama, Bahrain – Eleven Bahraini rights organizations and opposition groups, including Islamist Shiites and leftist parties joined forces Tuesday to form a truth and reconciliation committee.
The committee, which will be known as the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC), was officially launched by the founding members in a general meeting following two earlier meetings held in Manama this week.
Its formation comes as part of an effort by civic groups to bring closure to victims of alleged government rights violations during unrest in the 1970s, 1980s and mid-1990s.
Bahraini NGOs, opposition launch truth and reconciliation panel
By DPA
Jun 27, 2007, 2:51 GMT
Manama, Bahrain – Eleven Bahraini rights organizations and opposition groups, including Islamist Shiites and leftist parties joined forces Tuesday to form a truth and reconciliation committee.
The committee, which will be known as the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC), was officially launched by the founding members in a general meeting following two earlier meetings held in Manama this week.
Its formation comes as part of an effort by civic groups to bring closure to victims of alleged government rights violations during unrest in the 1970s, 1980s and mid-1990s.
‘We decided that the nomination of the board of trustees which will include 11 members will be discussed later during consultation with concerned societies,’ Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) deputy secretary-general Abdullah al-Durazi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The coalition committee will start a training programme to prepare people to be specialized in fact findings issues and documentations. The members of the TRC will be announced in another conference on December 10, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
During Tuesday’s meeting the former head of the Martyrs and Victims of Torture Committee (MVTC), Sayed Jafer al-Alawi, called for public trials of those accused of torture.
Al-Alawi, who himself was a former detainee from 1981-98, also called for the annulment of the 2002 Decree 56, under which those who were allegedly involved in torture received a pardon, and for proper compensations of the victims.
Failure to do so would only complicate the situation further, he said.
Founding member of the opposition Haq (Right) Movement, Sheikh Isa bin Abdullah al-Joder, called for constitutional reforms claiming that there has been a constitutional setback under which the current legislative branch lost powers compared to the powers enjoyed by the short lived parliament in the 1970s.
‘To achieve national reconciliation, the government needs to first admit its mistakes and then compensate the victims,’ he said.
Haq is the only remaining opposition grouping that continues to boycott the elections and reject the constitution adopted in 2002.
Social Development Minister Fatima al-Balooshi, who addressed the participants in the meetings on Saturday, defended the government position saying that the 2002 pardon – which granted freedom to all political prisoners as well as those who may have committed human rights violations – should stand.
The National Charter, which 98 per cent of the people voted in favour of in 2001, marked a political turning point by establishing the foundations of a democratic system fair to all Bahrainis, al-Balooshi said in her opening statement.
Al-Balooshi added that pardons can not be selective and they by design should include all parties.
The National Charter formed the centre piece of political reforms instituted by Bahrain’s King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa in 2001.
Following his rise to power in 1999, Sheikh Hamad suspended the state security act, freed political prisoners and allowed the return of exiles, mostly Shiites, before re-drafting a new constitution to allow the return of parliamentary life three decades after it was suspended.
One of the key foundations of that national agreement under the National Charter has been a general pardon, al-Balooshi said, adding that the pardons can not be selective and they should include all parties.
‘The law does not allow for review of cases that fall within the timeframe of the pardon, and its clauses do not extend to actions carried out after its adoption,’ she said.
Al-Balooshi’s views, which she said represent the government position, were echoed by Islamist member of parliament Salah Ali who also addressed Saturday’s meeting.
Ali said the re-opening of files would reflect negatively on the reforms process, taking everyone back to square one.
‘From our point of view national reconciliation requires compromises from all parties,’ he told the meeting.
The formation of the reconciliation committee coincided with international day of solidarity with the victims of torture, which the Bahraini government has allowed to be marked since 2001.
The backers of a reconciliation panel say it should uncover the truth, provide compensation for victims and lead to punishment of those who allegedly carried out torture.
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