A Report documenting alleged human rights violations faced by Bahrainis and expatriates will be released next month.
The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) has completed compiling its second annual report that lists serious allegations of torture, police misconduct and human trafficking.
The report will “name and shame” ministries and government bodies that refused to co-operate with the rights body regarding complaints made by citizens and residents.
“The second annual NIHR report is ready and will give a detailed overview of the human rights situation last year and will have a list of recommendations for authorities to consider,” said NIHR vice-chairman Dr Abdulla Al Deerazi.
“Our team compiled statistics of the nature of complaints we received throughout last year related to torture allegations, police misconduct and other complaints related to migrant workers.
“We will name and shame those ministries which did not co-operate with us in the report, which will be submitted to His Majesty King Hamad.”
Dr Al Deerazi said plans were in place to release the report next month, but they were waiting to complete all the formalities.
“In our last report we had several sets of recommendations urging the authorities to consider, some of which they have and others are being implemented,” he added.
“We wanted to give them more time to highlight the progress made since then before we release our second report.”
Dr Al Deerazi refused to reveal details of the report, but said it mentions attacks against policemen including the bomb blast in Daih in March last year, which killed three policemen.
He also said the team compiled complaints related to civil and political rights including right to fair trial, mistreatment, enforced disappearance, travel ban cases among expatriates and other allegations.
“This year we have a special section to highlight the problem of human trafficking and the problems faced by foreign workers,” he said.
“The complaints we received last year and the investigation carried out by our team are mentioned in this key report with statistics.”
He added that the report was “critical” on several fronts and provided recommendations for the government in order to improve the country’s rights record.
He said the report will provide a clear picture of the rights situation on the ground to international rights groups and bodies such as the United Nations.
The GDN reported in February that the NIHR had registered a 25 per cent drop in the number of actionable complaints between 2013, when 118 investigations were launched, and last year when just 88 claims were looked into.
The NIHR was formed by His Majesty in 2009 to work with state agencies and draft Bahrain’s rights reports, hold conferences and workshops, and develop efforts to promote human rights.
It was restructured in 2013 and had new members appointed for a renewable four-year term.
The rights body was again restructured after amendments were made by the National Assembly last year under which two additional board members were appointed raising the total number of members to 11.
To file a complaint with the NIHR, visit www.nihr.org.bh and fill in the online form, send an e-mail to complaint@nihr.org.bh, call 17111666 or fax 17111600.
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