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Frontline Defenders: Bahrain: Award Winning Repression - EU Gives Human Rights Award To Non-Independent Public Institutions While The State Jails And Tortures Human Rights Defenders

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Front Line Defenders is deeply disappointed with the awarding of the Chaillot Prize to two Bahraini national institutions, the Interior Ministry Ombudsman and the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), amidst a flagrant and widely reported crack-down by the Bahraini government on independent civil society organisations and human rights defenders. According to Ambassador Kulach, the Head of the EU Delegation to Saudi Arabia, which also covers Bahrain, the prize was presented to the two Bahraini institutions on the basis of their “constructive engagement” where they “exposed violations and cases and were committed to investigating those claims thoroughly”.

The independence of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) has been in question since its establishment pursuant to a Royal Order 46/2009 by the King of Bahrain. On 25 April 2010, the King issued another Royal Order 16/2010, appointing 17 men and five women as the first members of NHRI, including Kamal Al Din, former deputy secretary-general of the independent Bahrain Human Rights Society, as president, who resigned in protest at the institution’s failure to criticise the arrests of pro-democracy activists on 6 September 2010. The credibility and independence of the new institution was further challenged, after it emerged that several of the 22 nominees held government appointments or were linked to bodies known to operate as government fronts. The lack of autonomy of the institution is in contravention of the Paris Principles adopted by the UN General Assembly in its Resolution 48/134 of 1993. The ICC Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA), entrusted with reviewing and accrediting national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles, in its general observations (para. 2.2), established criteria critical to the appointment process, including a transparent process and broad consultation as well as including the parliament in the formal appointment and selection process. It should be noted that NHRI is not accredited yet by the ICC.

Although the European Union Delegation in Riyadh stated that “the first annual reports of both the winners have been particularly noted and appreciated for their comprehensive and sincere account of the country’s human rights situation, as well as for their powerful and constructive recommendations on how to overcome proven deficiencies and shortcomings in important areas related to human rights”, it did not take into account the fact that government institutions, including both award winning organisations, failed to investigate a number of cases of mistreatment and torture despite complaints filed before them. Naji Fateel who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment following an unfair trial, during which there was clear evidence of torture, filed a complaint before the Ombudsman which was never investigated.

Furthermore, the presentation of the award to these institutions seemingly ignores the grave situation in Bahrain where a crackdown on human rights and human rights defenders and a restriction of the space for civil society means that human rights defenders in the country risk their lives and their freedom on a daily basis. Following the eruption of protests in February 2011 against government corruption and discrimination and in favour of democracy and human rights, the situation for human rights defenders in Bahrain became even more dangerous and difficult. The authorities responded with harsh measures and a crackdown on civil society leaders, human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists.

Anti-terrorism legislation has been used by the authorities to vilify and persecute activists and human rights defenders. Freedom of assembly is limited. The law prohibits unauthorised public gatherings of more than five persons and public gatherings must be notified to the Ministry of the Interior twenty four hours in advance. There have been regular reports over the years of the use of excessive force by security forces when dispersing demonstrations. Freedom of expression is also severely restricted. Most media outlets are directly or indirectly controlled by the government, and often attack and criticise human rights organisations and their members. Numerous foreign journalists, human rights observers and even government officials have been expelled from or denied entry to the country for reporting on or seeking to investigate human rights issues. Several websites have been forcibly shut down or banned, including the Bahrain Online Forum, a pro-democracy site founded by human rights defender and blogger Ali Abdulemam. The government warned that it would use the 2002 Press and Publications Law to prescribe prison sentences for those who criticise the regime and the Public Prosecutor has invoked Article 246 of the Penal Code to prevent media reporting on a spate of arrests. Illustrative of the severe repression against human rights defenders is the case of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, prominent HRD and former Front Line Defenders Protection Coordinator. He was arrested in 2011, and in a gross miscarriage of justice, was sentenced to life-imprisonment by a military court. He, like many others, was beaten and tortured in police custody, and had to undergo surgery lasting four hours in a military hospital as a result. His daughters Zainab Al-Khawaja and Maryam Al-Khawaja have also faced persecution for their defence of human rights.

Bahrain has continued to prosecute social media activists; Ms Ghada Jamsheer, who is currently in detention, was arrested on 14 September 2014, for tweets criticising alleged corruption in the management of the King Hamad Hospital in Bahrain. She was released after spending 10 weeks in detention at the Isa Town Detention Centre for Women but was re-arrested 12 hours after her release. A new case relating to “assaulting a police officer” was brought against her in September 2014, while she was in detention without her prior knowledge of the charge. Prominent human rights defender Mr Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights has been targeted by the Bahraini authorities since 2009. Nabeel Rajab faced physical intimidation, arrest, detention and travel bans as a result of his work and has been sentenced to prison in violation of the rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. On 9 July 2012, he was taken into custody from his home and taken to prison to serve a 3-month sentence handed down earlier the same day, for sending a Tweet about the Bahraini Prime Minister. A month later, in a separate case, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of illegal assembly. Recently, on 2 October 2014, Nabeel Rajab was detained for seven days after he was summoned for questioning and interrogated on charges of “insulting a public institution” via Twitter on 1 October 2014. He remained in detention until he was released on bail on 2 November 2014. The EU's decision to award the prize to these two Bahraini state institutions is an insult to Nabeel Rajab who was arrested following an advocacy visit to the EU during which he presented his testimony to the Human Rights Subcommittee (DROI) of the European Parliament detailing human rights abuses in his country.

The Chaillot prize recognises the promotion of human rights and “actions, campaigns and projects which favour Human Rights promotion and awareness” in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It is named after the Palais de Chaillot in Paris where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on 10 December 1948 and the annual prize was first awarded in December 2008, on the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR. It aims to encourage GCC states to promote human rights and to improve the human rights situation in their countries.

The awarding of this prize directly contradicts the European Parliament's call for ”the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Member States to publicly condemn the ongoing violations of the basic human rights o freedom of expression in Bahrain, and call for the release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab and other human rights defenders targeted in Bahrain.”, and even more decisively, 61 Members of the EP called “for imposing targeted restrictive measures (visa bans and asset freezes) against those individuals responsible for, and involved in human rights abuses. If the EU is serious about encouraging the promotion of human rights in Bahrain, it should speak out against abuses committed against independent human rights defenders and NGOs and urge the Bahraini authorities to respect its international human rights obligations.

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/27853

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