Bahrain Mirror: The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights file in Bahrain will kick off Monday (May 1, 2017) at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. The working group on the UPR will examine the Bahraini record for the third time since the launch of this strategy, during a meeting that will be broadcasted live online. The first UPR on Bahrain was held in April 2008, while the second one was held in May 2012, following the outbreak of events, during which the HRC issued 176 recommendations for the first time.

The Bahraini delegation will be headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Dossari. It is noteworthy that the representatives of the three country taking on the role of rapporteurs "Troika" for the review of Bahrain are: Cuba, Ghana, and Japan.

Among the issued raised in the documents to be discussed in the session, are the implementation of recommendations submitted by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, death penalty, right to a fair trial, torture allegations, training police in the field of human rights, status of human rights defenders; including prison and travel bans. Also, the topics will include the rights guarantees in terms of freedom of peaceful assembly, association, freedom of expression and opinion, protection of media and press freedoms through internet and on the ground. They will also discuss the refusal of exile and discrimination against Shiites, in addition to measures adopted to insure equality in women's rights.

It is expected that the UPR working group will adopt recommendations on Bahrain on May 5, 2017. The state being reviewed may wish to express and defend its position towards the recommendations presented to it during the review of its file. The recommendations will be shares with the media before discussing on the same day.

You can tune in for the UPR live broadcast on the link here. 

Arabic Version