Nov 27, 2013
Brussels, Nov. 26. 2013(BNA) -- High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton has commended the steps taken so far by the Government of Bahrain to implement the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).
Mrs. Ashton welcomed, in particular, the operational launch of the office of the Ministry of Interior’s Ombudsman and its commitment to working "independently and effectively".
"Following the events of February-March 2011, the Bahraini authorities took the commendable initiative to establish the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) which formulated recommendations in its final report exactly two years ago ," Catherine Ashton said in a statement issued by her official Spokesman Michael Mann.
The statement added that the creation of the "Prisoners and Detainees' Commission", which will monitor places of detention in order to prevent torture and ill-treatment, is "also an important initiative" that brings Bahrain "closer to ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
The EU High Representative also praised the "increasingly active role assumed by the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR)" since its establishment, stressing the importance of establishing new institutions in producing concrete results in order to win the confidence of the public.
Mrs. Ashton affirmed full support to all efforts made by the Government of Bahrain to finalise the implementation of BICI recommendations according to schedule, adding that "EU looks forward to the publication on 1 December of the third progress report on the implementation of BICI recommendations."
She expressed hope that the Government of Bahrain would go beyond the BICI recommendations and "address those made under the UN Universal Periodic Review which it accepted in full or in part."
She stressed that success of the government's efforts "very much depend on the constructive cooperation between the government, the opposition and all Bahraini citizens," calling upon "all sides to seize peaceful dialogue channels without preconditions" and reject violence "in all its forms" in order to achieve lasting reconciliation.
http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/590115
