The Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), in partnership with No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), convened on Monday 21 May a meeting on "Towards Justice for Bahrain", which was hosted at the United Nations Office (Palais des Nations) in Geneva. The meeting was organised on the occasion of the thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, during which the human rights records of 14 States, including Bahrain, are reviewed for the second time.
As highlighted by the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), issued on 23 November 2011, the Bahraini security forces perpetrated “massive systematic violations and widespread torture” against civilians during mass protests in the country in February and March 2011. Despite promising indications by the Bahraini highest authorities in accepting the report and its recommendations, little has changed and the Bahraini people continue to suffer violence at the hands of this same Government.
Participants at the meeting on Towards Justice for Bahrain included Bahraini activists, international experts and representatives of national and international institutions, including: Jalila Al Salman, Deputy Vice President Bahrain Teachers Union (arrested in March 2011 for 5 months and a victim of torture), Syed Hadi Al Musawi, Head of the Human Rights Department of Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest opposition party, Dr Taha Alderazi, a leading Bahraini brain surgeon, Faisal Hayat, Bahraini journalist, detained and tortured for 3 months in 2011 and Mohamed Al Tajer, a Bahraini lawyer defending those who have been arrested. A short movie of the Bahraini journalist Lamees Dhaif on the repression faced by Bahraini doctors has been shown. The meeting was co-chaired by Niccolo’ Figa-Talamanca, Secretary-General of NPWJ, and Husain Abdulla, Director of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain. Many key issues have been covered, from impunity and the lack of accountability, violations of the right of freedom of expression and assembly, to the disproportionate use of force and the existence of torture and the repression of human rights defenders. Repression faced by doctors, journalists and defense lawyers have particularly been exposed.
Marco Perduca, member of the NRPTT and Italian Senator, hosted the meeting and provided the attendance with enlightening introductory and closing remarks.
The event has provided the opportunity to discuss questions and deepen the raised issues between the panel and the attendance.