A Significant Turning Point For Bahrain's Present And Future

23 April 2004

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) supports the efforts of members of the Council of Representatives, who are following-up investigations and hearings in the case related to Pension Fund Commission (PFC) and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). The BCHR on the other hand is calling for investigations of corruption in other institutions such as the Endowments Directorate.

Obstructing Peaceful Gathering and Popular Petitions

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
(to be published on 19 April 2004)

On the 6th April 2004, the Minister of Labour & Social Affairs sent letters to four civic societies (a primitive form of political parties) threatening of “legal action” if these societies carried on a plan to stage a popular petition on 21 April 2004 calling for rejection of the new constitution declared by the King in 2002.

52 human rights organizations from 11 Arab countries (Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Libya) have added their signatures to a letter to Arab heads of state who will be attending the forthcoming Arab League Summit. The letter is the product of an initiative of the Jordan based Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, in co-operation with the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR).

The text of the letter is as follows:

Open letter from human rights organisations and civil society groups to Arab heads of state.

The Summit of the Arab League.