The Human Rights Position on Developments in Bahraini affairs

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) organized a virtual conference titled “The Human Rights Position on Developments in Bahraini affairs,” on April 19, 2024. The conference coincided with the recent developments in the human rights situation in Bahrain, namely the release of a large number of prisoners of conscience, while there are still more than 500 prisoners of conscience who have not been released.

Baqer Darwish, chairman of the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR), and Jawad Fairouz, chairman of SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR), participated in the conference, while the BFHR’s researcher, Ghina Rebai, managed it.

The speech of the BFHR’s chairman, Baqer Darwish, at the conference: The importance of addressing the fundamental introductions of violations in order to protect rights and achieve constitutional consensus and transitional justice

In the human rights situation, there are fundamental introductions of the violations that caused the repercussions, including the issue of prisoners of conscience. When we talk about the fundamental introductions of violations, we mean the issue of undermining political rights that has resulted in:

-  Political isolation

- Restricted political environment

- Dissolving opposition associations

- Arrest of opposition leaders

- Hate speech that has been being made for years

- Various violations against civil society

- Prosecution of human rights defenders

- Prohibiting the establishment of (independent) human rights institutions or the formal participation of human rights institutions inside Bahrain through visits, and excluding them from consultations on some human rights activities such as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and others

- Sectarian persecution

- Undermining freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly (there has been a complete ban on demonstrations by an official decision since 2014), freedom of the press, cultural rights, religious freedoms, and political rights

- Lack of cooperation with United Nations mechanisms

- Disrupting UN rapporteurs’ visits

- Establishing a parallel civil society – such as the National Institution for Human Rights, which still lacks much to be compatible with the Paris Principles – to oppose the efforts of independent human rights institutions

- Establishing institutions such as the Ombudsman and the Special Investigation Unit, which instead of working as proposed in international frameworks, that is, within a path to correct human rights conditions, they work in the opposite way: torture, impunity, unfair trials, revoking the citizenship of hundreds of citizens, arbitrary dismissal from work, discrimination in public jobs

All of these fundamental introductions of violations have produced a legacy for the violations, including the issue of the detainees and the forms of persecution that exist in several areas and spaces.

The release of this number of prisoners of conscience is a positive step in the right direction. However, what is required to complete this path, is the release of all prisoners of conscience, reparation and compensation for victims, comprehensive human rights and political reforms, shifting towards transitional justice, and achieving constitutional consensus; all of which requires a set of steps.

What is required today is developing the human rights movement based on the recommendations of the UPR, and diligently following-up all the forms of violations – including the fundamental forms that violating and undermining them resulted in those violations – in order to reach the moment of achieving constitutional consensus, transitional justice, and protection of political rights.

Without addressing these introductions, we will return to the same cycle of arbitrary arrests, torture, and so on.

While we highly appreciate the role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and their continuous follow-up of the human rights situation in Bahrain, what is hoped is that, in addition to their continued interest in the human rights situation, they reaffirm all the human rights demands included in their periodic reports and the recommendations of the UPR.

I would like to benefit from the speech presented by the High Commissioner in the report submitted to Bahrain regarding the UPR, in which he mentioned the “implementation plan in follow up to the UPR outcome,” saying:

The serious move to correct the human rights situation requires updating the implementation plan in follow up to the UPR outcome, and this requires more steps on confidence-building measures, such as emptying prisons and reforming legislation (whether related to nationality, terrorism, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, etc.).

Releasing a portion of the detainees without fixing the basis of the problem does not guarantee that new arrests will not occur in the future because the causes of the crisis still exist, in light of the widespread policy of impunity.

The non-independent judiciary will lead to unfair trials. Moreover, failure to end the policy of impunity means that those who prosecuted, persecuted and tortured detainees feel safe from accountability and are ready at any time to recommit these violations.

Reparations must be made to those released because they have rights, such as providing medical follow-up for those who were denied medical treatment in prison, or providing job opportunities and other required compensation. There is an urgent need for transitional justice and comprehensive and serious political and human rights reforms.

The speech of the chairman of SALAM DHR, Jawad Fairouz, at the conference: It is necessary to achieve transitional justice - the topics that must be addressed and the steps that must be taken in order to achieve transitional justice

What comes after the release of a number of prisoners of conscience?

We appreciate and value the releases that have been made so far and consider them a step in the right direction, and we hope that this step will be completed until the prisons are emptied of all prisoners of conscience.

Emptying prisons of prisoners of conscience is essential for us to be reassured that this part of this issue has been resolved.

The vision of how to solve the human rights crisis in Bahrain does not lie solely and exclusively in releasing prisoners of conscience, but rather that release is an introduction to other matters. The human rights issue in Bahrain is manifold and has different aspects. In order to ensure that the human rights situation is addressed professionally and within the framework of resolving root issues, the release of all prisoners of conscience must be the first to be resolved on the list of other issues related to the human rights crisis.

On the importance of transitional justice:

The topic of transitional justice is not a slogan, but rather it must be an integrated project that is set forth within the framework of an action plan and an integrated vision. This requires training those concerned with the subject of transitional justice, whether they are bodies associated with official agencies, victims, or civil society institutions.

Unfortunately, neither in 2001, when the so-called “reform project” was launched, nor now, after the release of a number of prisoners of conscience, have we found any reference to the topic of transitional justice.

There are basic requirements; just as the authorities sought to set forth what was called the “National Human Rights Plan,” they are capable of achieving transitional justice, and they have the basic components for this matter if there were political willingness in this regard.

It is also unfortunate that so far we have not found any reference to the topic of transitional justice within the framework of some of the human rights documents presented by the government, neither previously nor currently.

For example, there is no reference to the topic of transitional justice in the National Human Rights Plan, or the government program submitted to the House of Representatives from 2022 to 2026, or in “Vision 2030.” We did not find essential human rights meanings of transitional justice in these visions. We hope that the topic of transitional justice will be included in the upcoming Vision 2050, because it is not a theoretical case, but rather a practical case that needs to be resolved. Moreover, since the issue was unfortunately not addressed in a professional and serious manner in 2001, we saw the consequences in what happened in 2011. Therefore, the same mistake must not be repeated again. Rather, transitional justice must be taken seriously now.

Regarding detainees, the number of those released exceeds 50% of the total number of prisoners of conscience. We hope that the remaining prisoners of conscience, who are more than 500 prisoners, will be released, albeit with alternative punishments.

Transitional justice refers to how societies respond to the legacies of massive and serious human rights violations.

There are urgent questions that must be raised transparently when we talk about transitional justice, which is primarily concerned with victims in the first place.

The most important topics related to transitional justice are: reparations, truth and memory, reform of various official and semi-official institutions regarding human rights and criminal issues, criminal justice, and preventing impunity.

Reparation is an essential matter. When prisoners are subjected to punishment and significant harm at different periods during their detention (these punishments are repeated and in different forms, such as enforced disappearance, torture, unjust sentences, deprivation of civil and political rights...), then they are released from prison after these unjust punishments were imposed on them, there is no way that the authorities are thanked for releasing them!

Gratitude can only take place after reparation has been made and transitional justice has been implemented.

Reparation aims to acknowledge the reasons behind the violations. There must be transparency and clarity in the reasons that led to the occurrence of damages and human rights violations as well as the injustices that they caused to the victims.

Reparation programs must be developed and implemented within the framework of acknowledging the underlying causes that led to them, addressing them, and then considering the damages.

When the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report was issued, the topic of reparation was mentioned in it, but unfortunately it was overlooked in the implementation and the correct mechanisms for that.

Reparations cannot be implemented by the same authorities accused of committing violations, because they will not be impartial and will inevitably avoid taking responsibility for committing those violations. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an independent human rights body concerned with looking into the injustices that occurred and their causes.

States that commit violations or fail to prevent them, as well as governmental and non-governmental bodies and all persons involved in causing harm, must be identified, and then reparation methods must be considered.

The next topic related to transitional justice is the topic of truth and memory.

In order to achieve any national reconciliation or a state of lasting stability and security and to remove the causes that led to the grave violations, which are clearly documented in the BICI report, civil society reports, and Bahrain’s Universal Periodic Review, we must focus on the topic of truth and memory.

Truth and memory is not for gloating or revenge, but rather to reveal the facts in order to determine responsibilities, which is essential for reaching national reconciliation and implementing transitional justice.

Hence, there must be research and openness initiatives to document the facts, which are actually documented, but they have not been dealt with transparently by the state, so they must emerge in an honest and transparent manner, and be acknowledged.

For example, the issue of demolishing mosques… What were the motives and reasons for that? Also, the issue of extrajudicial killings... What were the weapons used in those killings and who were the people who committed them?

Research and openness initiatives for documenting facts contribute to preserving memories to shape public understanding, with the aim of avoiding repetition. Therefore, stating the facts aims to strive not to repeat the methods in future security events that may occur. While if we do not move to transitional justice and do not point out the issue of truth and memory about previous events, subsequent events may be repeated in the same ways.

Regarding the issue of reforming institutions, the reform of all official institutions and how to manage them must be reconsidered within the frameworks of charters, treaties and the experiences of developed countries that respect public freedoms and defend the rights of victims. This is essential so that previous mistakes and violations are not repeated.

Official institutions must be restructured, shaped, and formulated in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the two international covenants, and the special procedures in how to conduct interrogations and arrests, independence of the judiciary, and what is related to the prison environment, and so on.

Prevention is essential. As long as prevention is included in the first goal of transitional justice, we will find that prevention and impunity are very essential so that we do not go back to square one. Reparation and institutional reform are fundamental to achieving prevention. Prevention requires looking into the issues that have occurred in order to reach general basic treatment.

Regarding criminal justice and the prevention of impunity, there must be a series of procedures in order to achieve criminal justice. It is not permissible for anyone who tortures detainees or kills extra-judicially to escape punishment, because this means that they may continue to carry out their duties in the same position, and thus, they may continue, even individually, due to their psychological state, for example, to commit the same crimes and transgressions. Criminal justice cannot be achieved without holding perpetrators of violations accountable.

If victims are not redressed based on local criminal justice, then international procedures must be used.

We urgently need to join efforts to make a real and honest plan to implement transitional justice. It may be in stages, i.e. a road map for achieving transitional justice, and it must be clear and explicit.

If the previous performance that occurred in 2001 is repeated, we will not guarantee that the events of 2011 will not be repeated. Therefore, we sincerely and lovingly call for the achievement of transitional justice through the various elements and topics related to it that we mentioned.