NIHR Meets with a French Council of Representatives Delegation
The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) Chairperson Dr. Abdul-Aziz Hassan Abul met with a French – Bahraini Friendship Society delegation from the French Council of Representatives headed by Secretary General of the Friendship Group and Mayor of Altkrich MP Jean Luc, MP Aif Sonsie and MP Helmer Francis Robert.
NIHR Chairperson praised the role of France and the progress made in the field of human rights. Then, NIHR Vice chairperson Mr. Abdullah Al-Derazi presented an overview of the NIHR origin and evolution since 2009 to date and its role in raising human rights awareness and education as well as the training programs provided by it to university students, law enforcement officers, judges and the public, NIHR’s advisory opinions to the executive, legislative and judicial authorities and its participations in national, regional and international events on human rights.
Head of NIHR Committee on Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up Mr. Maria Khouri highlighted the role of the Committee in following-up and investigating the complaints as the NIHR Establishment Law gave it the power to receive complaints from citizens and non-citizens as well. She indicated that there are several methods for submitting complaints either personally or by fax or email and there is currently a smart phone application through which complaints can be submitted. In addition, the NIHR makes declared and undeclared visits to the reform and detention centers. She added that telephone calls are now being made with the concerned authorities to follow-up any allegations of human rights violations, which indicates the development of the level of cooperation. Head of NIHR Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Mr. Farid Ghazi also presented an overview of the work of the Committee and the advisory opinions it has recently provided as well as its role in ensuring the conformity of national legislations with the relevant international conventions.
NIHR’s Acting Secretary General Mr. Yasser Ghanem Shaheen also presented an overview of the work of NIHR General Secretariat, its support to the council of Commissioners to perform its tasks and terms of reference and its various departments. Director of the Legal Department Mrs. Lateefa Al-Jalahema also presented an overview of the work of the department and its subordinate units.
For their part, the French parliamentary delegation praised NIHR’s role in fostering and protecting human rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain and expressed his admiration to the progress made especially in the field of women’s rights. He hoped that the NIHR and the human rights bodies in France would communicate with each other and a number of training programs, which aim to spread the culture of human rights, would be developed with the French side.
