Meeting

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR)’s Council of Commissioners convened its 12^th regular meeting at the NIHR’s headquarters in the Seef district under the chairpersonship of Ms. Maria Khoury, Chairperson of the NIHR.

Following the adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting and the agenda of the meeting that consists of 11 items, the members of the Council of Commissioners addressed topics related to the NIHR’s steps in the area of protecting and promoting human rights and its future plans.  The Council has heard the results of the implementation of the annual report for 2019 as well as a separate report from the Chairperson of each permanent committee on their works and achievements recently.

As the period of membership in the permanent specific committees is about to expire, the NIHR’s Council of Commissioners approved the new formation thereof as stipulated by the NIHR’s bylaw on the organization and action of the Council of Commissioners, where the members of each committee elected their Chairperson.  The results were as follows:  Ms. Maria Khoury was reelected as Chairperson of the NIHR and Head of the NIHR’s Committee on Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up, which consists of Dr. Hameed Ahmed Husain, Mrs. Rawdha Salman Alaradi and Mr. Ammar Ahmed Albannai as members of the Committee.  Dr. Bader Mohamed Adel was reelected as Chairperson of the NIHR’s Committee on General Rights and Freedoms, which consists of Mr. Ahmed Mahdi Alhaddad and Mrs. Wedad Radhi Almoosawi as members of the Committee.  Dr. Malallah Alhammadi was also elected as Chairperson of the NIHR’s Committee on Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, which consists of Mr. Khaled Abdulaziz Alshaer, NIHR’s Vice-Chairperson, Dr. Fawzeya Saeed Alsaleha and Lawyer/ Deena Abdulrahman Alladhi as members of the Committee.

The Council also discussed the amendment of the title of the Committee on Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty into another title that complies more broadly with Article 12 of the NIHR’s Incorporation Law and reflects the NIHR’s Council mandate to conduct announced and unannounced visits to monitor the human rights situation in correctional institutions, places of detention, labor gatherings and health and educational institutions or any other public place suspected to be a site for human rights infringement.

The NIHR’s Council of Commissioners appreciated the measures taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain in combating the spread of the Corona virus (COVID-19) and protecting citizens and residents on the territory of the Kingdom, noting the high transparency of various authorities in declaring everything related to their work to prevent the spread of the disease, stressing the importance of the right to health, which is one of the most important human rights to which all international covenants and instruments have paid great attention, given its close connection with human life.

During the meeting, the NIHR Secretariat-General’s action report for the 4^th quarter of 2019 was reviewed and adopted.  Finally, the Council thanked the Secretariat-General for its supportive work.