SALAM: We hope Bahraini Government to respect the will and aspirations of the people towards democracy and human rights

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council will start its 37th session this week on Monday the 26th of February and will end on 23rd of March.

At this session SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights is actively engaged with its team members and a good number of NGOs partners as well as Bahraini human rights activists.

“This session would be a busy one for us. As always, we truly seek to engage with international human rights bodies and mechanisms in order to positively affect and improve human rights conditions in Bahrain. We wish for a country that respects its people and their aspirations towards democracy and human rights”, says Asma Darwish, SALAM’s Head of International Relations.

SALAM DHR is organizing and co-sponsoring four side events at the Palais des Nations this session. During the first week of the session, on Thursday 1st March an event will be held providing latest updates on human rights situation in Bahrain, accompanied by a live testimony from a recent victim of torture who had been also a victim of sexual abuse by members of Bahrain’s state security. In the same day another event, a set of distinguished speakers from international NGOs will discuss citizenship and human rights in the GCC, its importance, its facts and effects.

During the second week on Monday 5th March SALAM DHR will organize a third event that is co-sponsored by international rights groups and partners on “Death Penalty and Extrajudicial Killings in Bahrain”. In this event, a set of speakers will discuss how repressive authorities, use the death penalty against activists, fabricating accusations and charges against them to score political points and seek revenge wholly from a political aspect, and not a legal one through unfair trials in non-independent & politicized  judiciary.

Where in the third week of the HRC37 session, and on Friday 16th March SALAM DHR will be busy with its regional and international partners setting up for its final event of the session, in which a panel will speak about statelesness and revoking nationalities in the GCC, with a specific focus on cases monitored in Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait.

Aside from that, SALAM DHR have scheduled peer-to-peer meetings with all parties concerned about human rights situation in Bahrain. This includes international bodies and delegations as well as various UN departments and special rapporteurs.