New law to give NIHR wider jurisdiction
Manama : The majority of Bahrain’s lawmakers yesterday agreed to grant wider powers and jurisdiction to the national human rights group in the Kingdom. This came as MPs passed a law decree to amend some of the provisions of Law 26 of 2014 in relation to establishing the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR). The law decree was initially submitted by the Council’s Human Rights Committee Chairman Mohammed Al Maarifi. It aims at upgrading NIHR, in accordance with the international human rights standards, by giving the institution’s members more powers and jurisdictions.
The law decree comes with amendments such as allowing NIHR to conduct surprise field visits to rehabilitation, correction and detention centres. The additions to the existing law also included prohibiting NIHR members from receiving any payments in return for their services.
The law decree was referred to the respective parliamentary committees for study last year. It was voted on during the council’s weekly session yesterday, in the presence of NIHR Vice President Abdulla Al Durazi. Al Durazi supported the law decree stating that “the new law would upgrade Bahrain’s international ranking in the human rights field”.
Stressing on the same point, MP Khalid Al Shaer said, “The decree comes on an expedited basis to improve the ranking of NIHR, in accordance with the recommendations and guidelines of the United Nations. The recommendations granted Bahrain until next month so it would revise the Kingdom’s eligibility of upgrading to Class A in the international ranking of human rights groups. This would allow Bahrain to play a bigger role in the international community. Once upgraded to the next class, Bahrain would be allowed to vote and participate in international human rights matters, instead of only being an observer.”
On his part, MP Abdulrahman Bumjaid commented, “This law decree gives the institution more jurisdictions such as unannounced visits to detention places and the right to extract information from any party. As legislators, we seek improving NIHR and to grant it more authorities. We appreciate the key role of the institution and its positive interaction with the Legislative Authority.
The MPs highlighted the gains the institution would achieve by passing the amended law. At the same time, other parliamentarians demanded NIHR to play a bigger role in reflecting the true human rights situations in Bahrain and rebuff the increasing false reports on the Kingdom.
MP Nabeel Al Balooshi said, “We need the institution to play a bigger role. This law decree comes to fill some gaps in the existing law. We look forward to more responsibilities to be taken by NIHR in defending the Kingdom and its reputation from false accusations. It should clarify all the wrong reports about Bahrain and the events that occur on its soil. Today we witness a war in the field of human rights and we must be well prepared for any false allegations against us.”
Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee members Jamal Buhassan and Khalifa Al Ghanim underlined that the amendments would strengthen Bahrain’s international position the fields of human rights.
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