NIHR’s Committee on Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up convenes its 7th Regular Meeting
29 Oct 2019
Under the chairpersonship of Ms. Maria Khoury and membership of Mr. Khaled Abdulaziz Alshaer and Mrs. Rawdha Alaradi, the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR)’s Committee on Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up has convened its 7th regular meeting at the NIHR’s Headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, the Committee has discussed the action taken with regard to the complaint received by the NIHR from the guardian of a primary-stage student stating that her son did not receive the textbooks of the current semester in a public school although the school has started since more than two weeks. The concerned bodies at the Ministry of Education were contacted, who expressed their interest in cooperating with the NIHR to examine the complaint and take the necessary action to resolve it and avoid its recurrence in the future. The Committee also reviewed the assistance provided to a number of residents to rectify their conditions as well as the results achieved after the NIHR had contacted with the concerned bodies.
The Committee also reviewed the issue raised by the media and social media on the allegation that a female citizen was disfigured as a result of a medical error as well as the actions taken by it to address the concerned authorities.
During the meeting, the Committee reviewed a detailed list of the received complaints, the provided legal assistance and the cases monitored via the media and social media during September and October, and stressed the need to intensify its efforts to attend court hearings in order to ensure fair trial guarantees, particularly in labor and criminal courts.
The Committee discussed the importance of interaction with the allegations raised via the social media and the necessity to communicate with the concerned bodies, in order to ensure their validity and know the reality, as well as the importance of dealing with allegations strictly, if any.
The Committee approved the inclusion of a regular item in the agenda of its meeting regarding the requisitions to replace sanctions as stipulated in the provisions of the Law No. (18) of 2017 on Alternative Sanctions and Measures, and reviewed all its previous resolutions and recommendations and the actions taken thereupon.
It is worth mentioning that the NIHR receives complaints and applications for legal assistance either personally or via the toll-free hotline (80001144), the NIHR’s website (www.nihr.org.bh), or the (NIHR Bahrain) mobile smartphone application.
