Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the Sixth International Conference of the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR), under the title “The International Community and Challenges of Human Rights Reform in Bahrain”, which will be held in three sessions today to review violations in Bahrain, international mechanisms to address the human rights situation, and recommendations proposed to the Member States of the Human Rights Council during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Bahrain's human rights status next May.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The human rights situation in Bahrain is seriously deteriorating. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report documented more than 50 patterns of violations, and in 2012, 176 recommendations were issued in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), but Bahrain did not accept the basic recommendations of them. In fact, the Bahraini authorities implemented the opposite of those recommendations. 21 patterns of torture methods were registered and more than 4,000 Bahraini citizens were subjected to torture and ill-treatment since 2011, while the UN Special Rapporteur on torture was prevented from visiting Bahrain. The Bahraini authorities implemented what the Bassiouni Report warned about like undermining civil society through dissolving a number of institutions such as Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, Islamic Scholars Council, Islamic Enlightenment Society (Al-Tawiya), Al-Risala Society, and Islamic Action Society (Amal). Since 2011, more than 11,000 citizens were arbitrarily arrested due to practicing their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, including 330 women and 968 Bahraini children. This clearly indicates that the Bahraini authorities are evading the implementation of the 13 recommendations of Geneva which are related to freedom of assembly and association, and the most notable of which were recommended by: Ireland, France, Australia, and Switzerland. The right to citizenship became one of the political revenge tools, as more than 380 Bahraini citizens were stripped of their nationalities including journalists, academics, former Members of Parliament, and religious scholars such as the leader of the Shiite community in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem, according to a royal decree. In addition, a number of Bahraini children were deprived of the Bahraini citizenship because of the malicious judgments against their parents. There is an obvious promotion of the policy of impunity, which established the principle of protecting the culprits and prosecuting the victims through unfair trials, and adapting the Penal Code, the terrorism law and the nationality law. A number of legislations related to these laws were introduced in order to prosecute citizens and political and human rights activists, and 6 articles of the Bahraini Penal Code were exploited to criminalize freedom of expression. In addition, human rights defenders were transformed to "the most vulnerable targets among targets of repression", as they have been subjected to travel bans, violation of freedom of movement, and repeated arrests and summonses, especially with the arrest of the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, and as Bahrain's Ministry of Interior uses its legal authority to open primary investigations in order to intimidate defenders, silence or prevent them from doing their legitimate activities to promote human rights.

We reach the following results:

The Bahraini authorities carried out many arbitrary arrests that fall at least within the second or third category or both, according to the procedural definition adopted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The security authorities continued the systematic practices of torture and ill-treatment for the purpose of forcing victims to give information or confess, or for the purpose of punishment, and in some cases due to sectarian discrimination. In addition, those in charge of interrogating detainees use very painful but non-lethal torture methods, which do not leave marks on the body of the victim, in order to hide any evidence that may lead to being held accountable. Moreover, prisoners of Jaw Central Prison were subjected to excessive use of force and torture after the turmoil that occurred in the prison. The Ombudsman, the National Institution for Human Rights, and the Special Investigation Unit of the Public Prosecution fail miserably in playing their role in the violation cases. In addition, sectarian persecution against the indigenous Shia Muslims in Bahrain is uncontrollable. 559 violations of Ashura season were registered since 2013, and the practices of intolerance and discrimination are widespread in state institutions. The official media continues to broadcast hate speeches. In one year, more than 3,000 hate speeches were recorded by the official media, which does not allow those who express anti-government views to participate in its programs. In addition, the broadcasting space is occupied by the state media, with the exception of the only independent newspaper, Al-Wasat, which is facing serious pressure.

With impunity, extra-judicial killings continued in Bahrain, especially with the beginning of 2017, after carrying out the executions and violating the right to life of three citizens based on unfair trials. The security forces were also involved in extra-judicial killings of other civilians afterward. We are concerned about carrying out the other death sentences of prisoners of conscience Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Moussa, and we call on the international organizations to make serious efforts.

Among the new methods of security repression is violating the freedom of movement and imposing a stifling security blockade on Diraz area, which is inhabited by more than 20 thousand Bahraini citizens. In Diraz, citizens exercise the right to peaceful assembly beside Ayatollah Qassim’s house. The Bahraini authorities prevent trucks of fresh water and food supplies from entering the area in successive periods, the Internet is deliberately disrupted daily, and citizens who do not live in Diraz are prevented from entering at checkpoints. A number of citizens, activists and religious scholars were arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to prison over exercising their right to peaceful assembly in Diraz. We are concerned about keeping the security measures in Diraz since they will leave a very bad impact on the humanitarian situation there.

The Bahraini authorities also imposed a complete ban on peaceful assembly since 2014, and used excessive force to disperse demonstrators since 2011, which caused 4997 injuries. In addition, the Law on Public Gatherings imposes unnecessary restrictions to criminalize freedom of assembly, and arbitrary restrictions are imposed on the establishment of non-governmental organizations, especially those of political nature, which face unjustified intervention in their affairs.

We urge the international human rights bodies, particularly the UN High Commissioner, to support freedom of religion or belief as they support freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We also urge the UN High Commissioner to make efforts in order to convince the Human Rights Council to appoint a UN special rapporteur in Bahrain, and we support the High Commissioner in its quest to open a regional office with full powers in Bahrain.

We hope that the Member States of the Human Rights Council issue a joint UN statement about the human rights situation in Bahrain at the next session, and condemn the occurring abuses.  We also hope that Member States adopt the recommendations of the civil society in the upcoming UPR session on Bahrain's human rights status in May 2017.