Standing for Rights. Holding State Accountable.

Between 19.10-06.11.26, the UN’s independent experts’ Human Rights Committee (HRC) will assess submissions made by civil society in respect to the Bahraini government’s adherence to its legally binding obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This process will inform  the HRC, government and civil society when the full review takes place in a few years’ time. SALAM DHR’s submission, entitled ‘A selection of current concerns for consideration of the HRC’ focused on the rapid erosion in the Bahraini government’s adherence to international human rights standards following the outbreak of international armed conflict in the Gulf region, impacting on Bahrain. SALAM DHR’s submission addresses (1) Discriminatory discourse and conduct informed and shaped by securitised sectarianism; (2) the April 2026 mass citizenship stripping of at least 69 persons, including children; (3) the May 2026 mass, arbitrary arrest of Shi’a clerics; (4) Restrictions to the right of peaceful assembly in the context of religious expression; (4) Torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, with reference to the death in custody of Mohamed al-Mosawi in March 2026; (5) Restrictions to freedom of thought, with reference to the government’s effectively coerced, public expressions of fealty to the government and King, in March, April 2026 and beyond; (6) Violations to Article 25 of the ICCPR, viz. By the removal of elected parliamentarians from their roles on account of their exercise of peaceful expression and the politically-motivated postponement of the House of Representatives election to 2027; and (7) Instances in which the Bahraini government rejected the right of effective remedy. The submission ended with a series of recommendations, directed at the Bahraini authorities but shared with the HRC. See the submission at https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/DownloadDraft.aspx?key=twV0MK5MSldSazzqZGZMtnIoirgTR2Z3+anCDrLfqhK1qAIR88M3hUQFUM6emY9h The upshot? The Bahraini must urgently end its securitised discourse and conduct; find ways to end the deeply-rooted discrimination against swathes of the Shi’a community – that it asserts it does not have; this is not the time to erode its adherence to international human rights standards, but a moment to actively work to meet these standards since it is only in this way that peace and security can be built.