“The SCA received third party information indicating that the NIHRB has not strengthened measures to address serious human rights violations. Third party submissions and reports of UN special procedures indicate the continued existence of patterns of arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as poor conditions of detention including ill-treatment and lack of access to medical care in Bahrain.
The SCA acknowledges positive measures taken by NIHRB in promoting the rights of detainees and prisoners, which is to be commended. However, regarding reports of torture and ill-treatment, the NIHRB informed the SCA that Bahrain has other domestic structures that address such violations.
The SCA notes that while NIHRB has provided information on individual cases of violations that it monitored, the institution has not provided evidence of protection measures to prevent or address reports of systemic human rights concerns in Bahrain such as arbitrary detention and torture and ill-treatment. As an institution with access to places of deprivation of liberty in Bahrain, NIHRB is uniquely placed to monitor, investigate, and report on systemic violations in this context.
The NIHRB indicates that it engages in direct dialogue with authorities in addressing reported cases of torture and ill-treatment. However, the SCA is concerned that NIHRB has refrained from publicizing its monitoring findings including in relation to visits to places of deprivation of liberty.
The public statements, annual reports, and parallel reports of NIHRB include limited to no information on substantive human rights developments in Bahrain. The SCA is of the view that the NIHRB has not taken sufficient action, nor made its positions on these issues publicly available in a manner to promote the protection for human rights in Bahrain.
The SCA emphasizes that annual, special and thematic reports serve to highlight key developments in the human rights situation in a country and provide a public account, and therefore public scrutiny, of the effectiveness of an NHRI. It is vitally important that the findings and recommendations of the NHRI be publicly available, as this increases the transparency and public accountability of the NHRI.
In view of the above, the SCA recommends that NIHRB:
- takes proactive steps to address systemic human rights issues and to protect all human rights; and
- publicise its findings and recommendations particularly on systemic or patterns of violations identified during its monitoring and investigation work in its public statements, annual reports, as well as parallel reports to international and regional human rights bodies.
The SCA refers to Paris Principles A.1, A.2, and A.3 and its General Observations 1.2 on ‘Human rights mandate, G.O. 1.11 on ‘Annual reports of NHRIs’, and G.O. 1.4 on ‘Interaction with the international human rights system’.”
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