Salam Organization for Democracy and Human Rights said that about a thousand Bahraini citizens are still victims of the crime of stripping citizenship due to the retaliatory policy of the repressive Al-Khalifa regime.
During the preliminary session of the universal periodic review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the organization confirmed that Bahrain now has an opportunity for fundamental human rights and political reforms.
In a press release on its website, the organization indicated that Bahrain was urged during the 2017 UPR cycle to ensure adequate protection of workers through legislative measures and increase the representation of Shiite citizens, especially in the police, armed forces and official media.
While it failed to meet the recommendation to end the stripping of citizenship after it revoked the citizenship of “985 citizens” in 2012, including “635 nationalities” between “2017-2019,” and it disproportionately revoked citizenship from Shiite citizens, who constituted “96% of the population.” Among those projections among them are clerics.
Opponents in Bahrain face deprivation of citizenship and forced exile in a measure that violates the most basic rights offered by the Al-Khalifa regime to perpetuate tyranny.
Nationality revocation and enforced exile are among the main tools the authorities use to suppress peaceful protest.
The organization confirmed the lack of achievement by the Bahraini authorities; No progress concerning the treatment of prisoners and the provision of medical care, allowing independent human rights groups to visit Bahraini prisons, and not allowing UN special rapporteurs to visit the country since 2006.
It recommended that the Bahraini authorities end the practice of withdrawing citizenship, restore all nationalities that were revoked, and end violations of the political and civil rights of members of dissolved non-governmental organizations and political associations.
The human rights organization stressed the need to end sectarian persecution and racial discrimination against Shiite citizens, allow them freedom of religious practices, and end harassment of the Shiite community and repressive action during Ashura.
It stressed her continued pressure for practical and tangible human rights reforms in Bahrain, leading to accountability and transitional justice, freedom for all prisoners of conscience, and the amendment of domestic legislation following international agreements.
It expressed her hope that the Bahraini government would engage in a national dialogue, leading the process of democratic transformation in the country based on equal citizenship and strengthening the rule of law.
