Bahrain hits out at Human Rights Watch

Ministry of Human Rights and Social Development expressed its disappointment on the inappropriate evaluation and the preconceived judgment issued by Human Rights Watch in its statement dated March 28, 2012, entitled “Bahrain: the vital reform commitments that have not been met.” The Ministry also expressed its regret towards the unbalanced tone of the statement, that had ignored the positive developments, and the continuation of the reform process. A statement issued by the ministry today stressed that His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the National Commission and the government made clear repeatedly that the ongoing process of implementation and the significant achievements so far do not represent the maximum efforts of implementation by the government. The statement highlighted that the implementation of the recommendations are continuing, and its only 130 days since the submission and publication of the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), and therefore it is very early to make a final assessment about what the organization claimed to be “unmet reform commitments.” That statement said that it is clear from the National Commission concerned with following up of the recommendations of the BICI that the Government of Bahrain has achieved great progress in implementing the recommendations, and this has been documented on its. This progress has been recognized by a number of foreign governments and organizations, including the British Foreign Office, and even though the statement of Human Rights Watch has acknowledged that Bahrain has taken some positive steps, but it didn’t provide any information in this regard. The statement also added that the Kingdom of Bahrain has fully implemented many of the key recommendations of the report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry, in less than 130 days. For example, the return of all employees in the public sector as well as students, while the vast majority in the private sector is in the process of reinstatement, of which International Labour Organization also recognized recently. There has also been a radical reform in the legal systems and those concerned with law enforcement, in addition, a fund for compensations has been established, where a settlement has been made to compensate relatives of victims of the events that took place last year. The statement indicated that the Human Rights Watch’s statement did not agree with the advice provided by independent legal experts on how to develop and design an independent investigation mechanism recommended by the BICI. At the time the ministry is considering the different viewpoints of legal experts, but the government of Bahrain has relied on advice provided by a number of legal experts, who are pioneers in the world in this area, and has full confidence in the legal advice provided and used - which was published and is available now online. However, this reform process is not over yet and it is still continuing.