Human rights defenders in Bahrain: heroes of a forgotten revolution
 

29-02-12 10:42 PM

http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/BCHR/.../03/CIHRS1.png http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/BCHR/...2011/06/un.jpg
On Monday, February 27, 2012, the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) was inaugurated at the council’s headquarters in Geneva; the session is slated to close on March 23, 2012.
This session comes as some nations, such as Tunisia and Libya, have taken their first steps toward democratization, while others in the region—notably Syria and Bahrain—have stumbled as a result of the might of authoritarian regimes or, like Egypt and Yemen, because of the failures of those overseeing the transition to democracy.
(..)
In cooperation with several other Arab organizations, CIHRS is submitting nine written interventions that look at the rights situation in Egypt, Palestine and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, and Algeria, as well as three interventions on human rights defenders in Egypt, internet freedom in the Arab world, and torture in Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain.
Despite the continued deterioration of the human rights situation in some Arab states such as Egypt and Bahrain, the HRC did not set aside separate sessions for these countries on the agenda. CIHRS has attempted to overcome this by forcing a look at these countries in its written and oral interventions on Egypt and Bahrain in sessions devoted to torture, internet freedoms, and human rights defenders.
Human rights defenders in Bahrain: heroes of a forgotten revolution

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) express grave concern over the continuing crackdown on human rights defenders in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Amid the shameful silence of the international community on the ongoing human rights violations in Bahrain, reflected clearly at the Human Rights Council, it is only
through the work of determined human rights defenders (HRDs) that the struggle for democracy in Bahrain is noticed.
Despite the clear recommendations published in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report in November 2011 calling on the Bahraini authorities to immediately release and commute the sentences political prisoners, most of whom are prominent human rights activists, this remains to be realized. In addition, those human rights defenders who are not in prison continue to face ongoing restrictions and violations, which include brief arrests, physical assault, death threats,
attacks with teargas on their homes, smear campaigns, and travel bans.
Read full intervention (pdf)


Full CIHRS press release on activities during the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC)


Source...