NIHR and UNHCHR Co-organize a Joint Workshop
The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) co-organized a workshop on "Reports of NGOs and NIHRs on Universal Periodic Review", in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR), for activating the partnership principle with the local, international and regional organizations concerned with human rights.
The workshop, which was held on Sunday, 22 May, with the participation of representatives from the Kingdom of Bahrain's civil society organizations and continues to 24 May at Crown Plaza Hotel, was inaugurated by a speech delivered by Ms. Maria Khouri, Commissioner and Chairperson of the Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up Committee in the NIHR on behalf of NIHR's Chairperson Dr. Abdulaziz H. Abul. She welcomed the UNHCHR delegation and participants, maintaining that this workshop emerges in interaction and response to the civil society organizations needs for getting ready to the Kingdom of Bahrain's 3rd UPR session before the Human Rights Council, in its 27th term. She added that the purpose of this joint event is to make the participants capitalize on international experiences in backing and supporting the UPR in a manner which helps achieve its objective, explaining that the work in human rights field is not an individual work, but rather, it is a continuing process based on continued partnership at the
level of official and national organizations and our civil societies.
On her part, Ms. Nada Darouza, regional advisor on gender and women rights issues at the office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a speech during the opening session, which she started by extending thanks to the National Institution for Human Rights for hosting and organizing this event, emphasizing the importance of activating collaboration between the two sides in respect of exchanging experiences and transfer of knowledge. She said that this workshop comes out as a step for enabling the national institutions and civil society organizations to prepare a parallel UPR report on the Kingdom of Bahrain, which will be prepared in the early 2017.
On the other hand, the workshop started its first day by discussing the introduction on the international human rights law, the international mechanisms for protecting human rights, along with the Kingdom of Bahrain's obligations under the international human rights law. The second Day, sessions introduced the human rights council and the universal periodic review mechanism, and guidelines for making reports within the UPR, in addition to the role of national institutions and civil society organizations in the framework of international human rights mechanisms, including the UPR mechanism. The Third Day discussions involved a determination of the coming report priorities and action plan for the upcoming phase.
