The British Ambassador Meets
Bahraini Human Rights Organizations

The British ambassador to Bahrain, Simon Martin, met with representatives of human rights organizations in Bahrain on February 3, 2016. Ambassador Martin described the meeting as a “fruitful.”

 

Human rights activist, Nidal Al Salman, who attended the meeting, emphasized that the meeting was positive, pointing out that the British ambassador stressed the need to reach out to the civil society and indicated that no reform can take place without the exchange of views and discussion to arrive at solutions that suit everyone.

She added that the ambassador spoke about the importance of Bahrain’s establishment of human rights bodies, such as the Office of the Ombudsman, and explained his government’s efforts to contribute to the success of their work, through training and surveillance.

For their part, human rights activists, according to Al Salman, welcomed the establishment of the official human rights bodies, but at the same time expressed regret, that these bodies did not prove their effectiveness and impartiality when filing complaints, as hoped by human rights activists.

At the end of the meeting, the activists who attended the meeting said that the meeting with the British ambassador represents a “good start.”