‘Don’t politicise objectives’

The Kingdom has called upon the human rights organisations not to politicise their objectives and to avoid biased stances. This observation came during a recent forum titled “International Non-governmental Organisations and Institutions between Professionalism and Politicisation”, which was organised by Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat).

Deputising Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa at the forum was the Minister’s Assistant for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Abdullah bin Faisal bin Jabr Al Dossari.

In his speech, Mr Al Dossary stressed that “human rights organisations, as their names indicate, are non-political. So they ought to advocate human rights through respect for human rights.”

His also talked about the credibility of international human rights organisations, affirming that “they are voluntary and independent from governments.”

He asserted Bahrain’s respect for non-governmental organisations and its keenness on interacting and cooperating with them within the framework of national laws and on the basis of respect for human rights and relevant global conventions, to which the Kingdom is always committed.

He welcomed the role being played by non-governmental organisations in all fields including human rights, as far as they meet the credibility criteria such as objectivity and non-politicisation of human rights for hidden objectives and agendas.

At the same time, Mr Al Dossari affirmed that “national and international human rights organisations ought to be neutral and transparent and should respect the law and steer themselves away from being selective, from adopting double standards or exploiting human rights causes to serve suspicious political goals.”

“Some of these organisations are in the wrong direction, which affects their credibility. Their reports are biased to serve petty gains and hidden agendas and the information they contain are erroneous as they are not checked with national sources for consistency purposes and thus often turn to be poisonous instead of being neutral in highlighting whatever is positive,” Mr Al Dossary commented.

He also cast doubts on the funding of these NGOs: “There are big question marks with regard to their true goals and whether they are used to defend and protect human rights or used by foreign sides to ignite seditions, tear apart national unity and unrightfully infiltrate nations.”

“They should also support national efforts to attain comprehensive and sustainable development to serve the 2015-2030 development goals that were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its 70th Session,” he added.

He reaffirmed that “the Kingdom of Bahrain, since its independence, was able to establish a modern democratic state of institutions and order of law that guarantees the right for establishing civil, scientific, cultural and professional societies and trade unions, on the basis of national foundations and for legitimate goals and through peaceful means as per the conditions stipulated by law.”

Several officials took part in the forum including Royal Court Special Envoy and former Information Affairs Minister Sameera Ebrahim bin Rajab, MP Mohammed Al Maarifi and other experts.