First anniversary of popular uprisings

Bahrain: First anniversary of popular uprisings
14 February 2012 – fidh

While thousands of Bahraini people are expected to meet on 14 February 2012 to mark the first anniversary of the start of pro-democracy protests, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is publishing a position paper on the situation of human rights since the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report on 23 November 2011 [1]. On the basis of the information received from reliable sources [2], FIDH points out that key recommendations in the BICI report have not been effectively implemented, and human rights violations recorded in the said report continue unabated.

This report strongly questions the commitment of the King of Bahrain, who declared at the occasion of the release of the BICI report “we are determined, (…), to ensure that the painful events our beloved nation has just experienced are not repeated, but that we learn from them, and use our new insights as a catalyst for positive change.” This statement was reassuring as the BICI had documented 45 killings, 1,500 cases of arbitrary arrest, and 1,866 cases of torture.

Since that date, the Government of Bahrain (GoB) has made other comforting declarations and has set up several follow-up and implementation mechanisms, among them, a national Commission which is mandated to review the laws and procedures adopted in the wake of the February and March 2011 events. This Commission is also mandated to make recommendations to the legislative body to amend existing laws and to adopt new legislation. Among the 18 commissioners, mostly members of the Shura council, are occupying governmental position. Only one, Mr. Abdulla Al-Derazi, former president of BHRS, is a civil society activist, undermining the recommendation No. 1715 [3]. The Commission should complete its mandate before the end of February 2012.

However, these pledges and initiatives have yet to be translated into concrete actions. Indeed, large-scale human rights violations continue to be committed on a regular basis as protests are still ongoing. Use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, ongoing judicial harassment, impunity, obstacles to independent monitoring, etc., as documented in the FIDH position paper, continue to be recorded. …more