SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) —  Tow MPs in UK parliament asked Foreign Commonwealth Office about Bahrain and ministry answered in support to AlKalifa tyrant regime .

MP Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston, Labour)To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to raise allegations of torture and repression of opposition supporters with the authorities in Bahrain.

Answer :

Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

The UK regularly raises human rights concerns with the Government of Bahrain, including the importance of investigating any allegations of torture and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice. The UK formally raised this issue, and encouraged Bahrain to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, during Bahrain's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in May 2012.

I visited Bahrain on 11 June 2012 and raised our concerns about the human rights situation with a wide range of representatives from the Bahraini Government, as well as opposition parties and representatives from civil society.

MP Denis MacShane (Rotherham, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason the UK has not signed the joint statement on the human rights situation in Bahrain submitted at the 20th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 27 June 2012 in Geneva.

Answer :

Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

The UK did not sign up to the joint statement as we did not consider it appropriate at this stage to raise Bahrain under agenda item 4. A number of other countries, including the US and other EU member states, agreed with our assessment and also did not sign the statement.

We agree with much of the substance of the Swiss-led statement and our overall objective remains to support improvements in Bahrain's human rights records. However, we do not believe that the situation in Bahrain is comparable with the situation in the other countries raised under this item such as Syria.

Progress has been made in a number of areas relating to human rights. The Bahrain Government has established a Special Investigations Unit to investigate allegations of torture and mistreatment, amended the penal code to ensure greater accountability for officials connected with torture charges, and introduced a police code of conduct imposing strict rules on the use of force.

But clearly much more needs to be done and the UK, as a long standing ally, is supporting Bahrain on their path of reform.

Source : UK parliament

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