What Future Awaits the NHRI?

The role of the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) has been notably absent during recent events. Many had hoped that the NHRI would play an important role, similar to other national institutions in other countries.

NHRI was established during a time of immense turbulence, by Royal Decree No. 46, on 10 November 2009, in order to promote, develop and protect human rights. However, the appointment of its members did not take place until 25 April 2010. NIHR consists of a president and twenty other members including human rights activists, academics and journalists. The President of NHRI was Salman Kamal Al Deen who was also one of the leaders of Waad Society and a founding member of the Bahrain Human Right Society (BHRS). He was appointed as president in September 2010.

Due to political pressures from his political socitey, Mr. Kamal Al Deen resigned after four months of his appointment. That was the first setback for the NHRI; and since then no other president has been appointed.

The crisis in Bahrain began after six months of Mr. Kamal Al Deen’s resignation and during this period, four of NHRI’s members resigned thus hindering the newly established institution. NHRI was unable to release its annual human rights report which was due by the end of April 2011. It should be noted that the Royal Decree No. 46 obliges NHRI to issue this report stating visions and activities carried out to realize its objectives, which include:

Developing a comprehensive national strategy for enhancing and protecting human rights in Bahrain and proposing the mechanisms and tools necessary for achieving it.

Studying human rights-related legislations and systems in force in Bahrain and making appropriate recommendations, especially with regard to the consistency of these legislations with Bahrain’s international human rights obligations, and recommending new legislations related to human rights.

Working, in cooperation with educational, upbringing, information and cultural institutions, on disseminating human rights culture, as well as explaining means available for protecting human rights.

Offering opinion, making suggestions and recommendations on subjects brought by authorities and departments concerned related to protecting and enhancing human rights.

Studying conformity of legislative and organizational texts of international treaties on human rights and submitting suggestions and recommendations to the departments concerned with strengthening and protecting human rights and supporting and developing these rights, including recommending joining regional and international conventions on human rights.

Receiving human rights complaints, studying them and referring cases, if necessary, to the departments concerned and following-up those cases effectively. Making stakeholders aware of the procedures that should be followed and helping them in taking such procedures, or helping them to settle their complaints with the departments concerned.

Cooperating with international organizations, regional and national institutions and institutions in other countries concerned with strengthening and protecting human rights, in a way that contributes to achieving the goals of the NHRI and strengthening its relations with those institutions and organizations.

Cooperating and coordinating with the relevent departments in the Government in preparing reports which the Government has committed itself to submit periodically, implementing international human rights agreements, and explaining those reports in appropriate media outlets.

Holding conferences, organizing training programs, participating in international and national events and in the meetings of international and regional human rights organizations and making researches and studies in this regard.

Publishing bulletins and publications on the NHRI’s goals and regulations.

Issuing and publishing reports on the Kingdom of Bahrain’s efforts in human rights and related national issues.

Contributing to building human rights capacities, including technical preparations, and training the employees of the institutions dealing with public freedoms, political, cultural, social and economic rights and law enforcement in the Kingdom, to raise their efficiency.

NHRI has failed to achieve any of the above objectives, except the issuing of a few statements in different occasions; such as a statement supporting national dialogue and another regarding the International Day for Democracy. NHRI has also participated in regional conferences in Qatar and Egypt and also visited some of the detainees during the recent unrest.

The Secretary-General of NHRI, Dr. Ahmad Farhan, who was appointed in January 2011, discussed in an interview with Al Wasat on 21 August 2011, some of the NHRI activities during the unrest such as monitoring of violations. He also stated that the Monitoring Committee of NHRI did not issue a report regarding recent events nor the parliamentary elections in October 2010. Farhan also added that a report which includes all NHRI’s activities will be released shortly after the completion of the investigations. Farhan admitted also that NHRI is not appropriately qualified due to lack of staff. He continued saying that NHRI gave attention to the dismissed workers and that it discussed this issue with the Minister of Labour and also requested information. There is an overall agreement that the performance of NHRI was less than expected for several reasons including the following:

Some of NHRI’s members lack the suitable cultural and human rights background needed to deal professionally with the situation. It would have been possible to make up for this shortcoming through training programs, however such programs were not available nor was there enough time for them. The NHRI is still in need for trained and well qualified staff in order to fulfil its duties.

The NHRI included a mixture of members with various political and ideological backgrounds which interfered with their work. The unrest also helped in deepening social divisions and increased disagreements between the members. The fact that NHRI failed to use human rights laws as a reference point was the reason for the resignations; in addition to personal problems between members.

The leadership and adminstration of NHRI was inefficient, for till this very day, no member has received their entitlements except for the Secretary-General and a few staff. According to Dr. Farhan NHRI ‘still needs a new plan, recruitment procedures, personnel, financial regulations and an organisational structure.’

The leadership of NHRI failed to promote harmony between members, bring out their best abilities, coordinate efforts, direct their capabilities towards achieving NHRI’s goals and put forward a comprehensive national plan to promote human rights in Bahrain.

A central problem is the fact that the members are in reality volunteers and have other jobs in public or private sectors. The institution needs full time specialists working in human rights.

Consecutive resignations constitute another reason for NHRI’s weakness as it reduced official and public trust which decreased motivation among its members. It is for this reason that NHRI was absent from the scene to the extent that the Independent Commission of Inquiry did not mention NHRI in its report. Therefore, NHRI and its members should be reassessed by the Government. Moreover, a capable and qualified president should be appointed as soon as possible. It is time for NHRI to perform its duties and regain the trust of the public and human rights activists inside and outside the country.