HM King Hamad specifies NIHR membership terms

Manama : His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has issued Royal Order 17/2017 specifying the terms and conditions for appointment of members of the National Institution of Human Rights (NIHR) board of commissioners.

A member to the board of commissioners  must satisfy the following terms and conditions in addition to the provisions of Article 4 of Law 26/2014.

They must not be affiliated with any political society apart from members of the legislature who are entitled to discussion without any voting right.

The member must be a holder of high education qualification, and should speak at least one of the UN’s official languages in addition to Arabic, if nominated for full-time membership.

 At least two years should have elapsed if the member  is nominated by a civil society, vocational or trade organisation. 

If nominated by an academic institution, the member must at least be an assistant professor and must have substantially clear contributions in the field of human rights.

It was also stated that the board of commissioners must represent the whole spectrum of the society without any discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, creed or disability. Women and minorities must be represented appropriately. 

The broad range of nominees must include a sufficient number of specialists in the fields of law, human rights and fields that constitute the core of NIHR’s work. 

The Royal Court’s minister has been instructed to conduct the necessary consultations to nominate the names of
full-time and part-time members to the board of commissioners, according to the Royal Order.