AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
Bahrain: Promises broken, repression unleashed
(Brussels, 21 November 2012) Amnesty International has urged the European Union to do more to address continuing human rights violations in Bahrain. In a new briefing issued today, Bahrain: reform shelved, repression unleashed, Amnesty International highlights the growing human rights crisis in Bahrain and urges the authorities to abide fully by the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), established by the country’s authorities to investigate abuses during the 2011 anti-government protests.
“The scale and nature of the violations unleashed in Bahrain since the BICI made its recommendations make a mockery of the country’s reform process”, said Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. “We urge the EU and the wider international community to address the gap between rhetoric and reality and press for full implementation of the BICI’s finding”’.
Despite widespread and well documented abuses by the government, the EU has remained largely silent on the issue. Though it expressed support for the BICI and its findings, the EU has since failed to uphold the importance of human rights in Bahrain even though repression by the authorities has expanded. In October rallies and gatherings in the country were banned: in violation of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, while 31 opposition figures were stripped of their Bahraini nationality in November.
The EU has so far confined itself to asking that “all sections of Bahraini society contribute to dialogue and national reconciliation in a peaceful and constructive manner” while member states continue to do business as usual in Bahrain.
For the briefing, please see https://www.amnesty.eu/en/documents/all/ after the embargo
For more information please contact:
Peter Clarke
Media & Communications Officer
European Institutions Office
Amnesty International
Tel: +32 (0) 2 548 2773