HR Universal Periodic Review published

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published the Human Rights report it is going to submit to the Universal Periodic Review panel at the United Nations in April 2008. The Arabic report is available here while the English, once it is published, is going to be available here.

I’ve had a brief look at the report and am impressed in the fact that it provides some recommendations on what the government should do in the future. The question is not that, anyone can table recommendations, the question is does the report have teeth? Will the government – the very one who published it – take heed of the recommendations and enact them?

I must admit that I’m not very encouraged when I see a recommendation like that given regarding the Freedom of Speech in which it says that “there are some journalists who are against imprisoning journalists for their opinions while there are others who condone and encourage it“. It goes on to say “they will look into the situation”.

There are other sections such as those on discrimination and anti-torture; which, although recognised that these things happen in Bahrain – barely, there are no real solid recommendations like proposing changes to questionable laws or proposing new legislation to correct a situation.

Is this report just a stop-gap measure until – once again – the spot-light points elsewhere and then recede once again into our own little hole?

Well, the absence of concrete steps to enact changes leads me to believe that it might be. The lottery was drawn, our name came up, and this is the response. But don’t get me wrong, I recognise that at least they pinpointed areas which must be looked into, maybe next year we will get some concrete steps enacted.

If there is a real will, both societal and political, to fix our situation, I am sure just like those magical days of 2001, changes could be done overnight. We all know what needs to be done, and in the preceding 7 years we have heard and read a plethora of ways to get there.