The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has compiled the final draft report, which is ready to be sent to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 25.
The report states that in 2007-08, the government spent BD1.5 million on child development projects.
It mentions about the Ministerial decree issued by the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs, which fixes the marriage age for women at 15 years and for men at 18 years. One of the proposals the government is working for is the fixing of the juvenile age at 18 years.
However, the report underlines the problem of the marriage contract, which does not provide protection for women.
In the women’s section of the report, three issues are highlighted – Family law, quota system and housing problem.
The report states that working women were benefiting from the housing service according to a ministerial decree but the report was strongly against the quota system for women. The authorities defended their stance on the quota system as, it said, it was against Bahrain’s Constitution, which promotes gender equality.
The government, it says, is studying laws to protect women and children.
The key salient feature in the report, which is prepared after consultations with several ministries, NGOs and public survey, aims to promote union activities in the Kingdom.
It calls for applying the International Labour Organisation agreements on trade unions and mentions Bahrain’s efforts to establish multiple unions in companies.
The government urges the UN council to provide human rights training and ensure transparency by providing details on trade activities to concerned persons or institutions.
The first 24 pages of the report deals with the human rights issue while the rest are details of documents on laws or conventions Bahrain has ratified to promote the principles of human rights.
In the challenges section of the report, several laws are put under the scanner.
It highlights the law on rallies which, it says, is criticised by the opposition. Revealing the figures, it states, that in 2005 there were 206 illegal rallies while in 2006 there were 222 rallies out of which only 100 were licensed by the authorities.
In 2007, the number of rallies held in Bahrain rose to 324 according to the findings of the report out of which 104 were licensed while the rest were illegal.
The situation of unemployment has not been ignored as the report states that in 2007, there were 7,815 unemployed in Bahrain and the government spent BD15 million on the National Employment Programme to provide training to job-seekers.
The situation of inflation in the country and the BD40 million allocated by the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, to tackle the situation have also been highlighted.
The National Human Rights Report rejected any torture allegations and excessive use of force by authorities in December last year. It said there were no torture cases in Bahrain and it had ratified almost all the recommendations by the Anti-Torture Committee when the team visited in 2001.
Citing examples of some of the recommendations, the report mentioned that the state hired lawyers for detainees who could not afford one and protected migrant workers in legal cases.
The United Nation Council will review the human rights record of 48 countries in three batches of 16 each in April. Bahrain is among the first group of 16 states to be reviewed on April 7.
The poor living condition of workers is listed as a challenge. The report assures that the Bahrain government is working on by increasing inspections of labour camps and studying a legislation to protect migrant workers.
The draft law on NGOs is explained in the report. It says that the state will guarantee them more freedom similar to the amended Press and Publication Law. The government is working to cancel articles which is related to the imprisonment of journalists according to the findings of the report.
In its conclusion the National Human Rights Report states that it will prepare an action plan with assistance from the United Nations Council to work on the challenges and recommendations.
