Bahrain's model linking of UPR with SDGs 2030 highlighted

Manama, Sept. 25 (BNA): Assistant Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Faisal bin Jabur Al Doseri has affirmed the Kingdom’s keen interest to cooperate and interact with all United Nations mechanisms on the basis of dialogue to build on the achievements so far accomplished. This approach, he said, relies on transparency and credibility as two essential elements of dialogue, away from attempts to politicize human rights for petty gains, sought by the groups acting outside the framework of law and legitimacy. Bahrain is proud of its history and heritage, which affirms its respect for human rights, peaceful coexistence and interaction among all social components, away from calls for law violations, hatred, racism and sectarianism, Al Doseri remarked. The assistant minister’s remarks came during a meeting with the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Vojislav Suc, on the sidelines of the 39th Session of the Human Rights Council, currently held at the United Nations Office in Geneva During the meeting, the assistant minister reviewed with UNHRC President ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation and spotlighted Bahrain's leading achievements in promoting and protecting human rights and in ensuring equity and human dignity for all citizens and residents as per the constitution and national legislation. In this context, he cited as examples the recently King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence, the Isa Award for Humanitarian Service and Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for Women's Empowerment in addition to Bahrain’s reaching Tier 1 in the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report and the selection of the Kingdom of Bahrain from among 68 world countries as the best destination for expatriates to work and live in in 2018. He also noted the progress of the Kingdom of Bahrain in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGS2030) and the integration of more than 78% of those goals into the government's program of action towards a "society of justice, security and wellbeing. The assistant foreign minister thanked the president of the council for his constructive efforts in the council’s management. For his part, the President of the Human Rights Council expressed his satisfaction with the existing communication and cooperation and his knowledge of these important human rights achievements. The assistant minister also met with the Chief of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Gianni Magazzini. During the meeting, he stressed that The UPR mechanism deserves all the support to achieve its objectives on the basis of the principles governing the work of the Human Rights Council; the principles of dialogue, objectivity, and the non-selective and constructive international cooperation. He also said that the interaction within that mechanism should be governed by the realization that the promotion, respect and protection of human rights is a continuous process not free of challenges and obstacles. The assistant minister also affirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the first countries in the world to link the recommendations of the UPR mechanism to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, with the identification of practical and temporal indicators for measuring performance and achievement, setting a new international model by the Kingdom of Bahrain to be followed by international organizations and applied to all world countries. For his part, the Chief of the UPR praised the continuous communication and interest of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the UPR mechanism for human rights. He also hailed the Kingdom's pioneering initiative to link the UPR recommendations with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, and stressed the importance of benefiting from this methodology and spreading this initiative to other countries. A number of issues of mutual interest were also discussed, including coordination and cooperation in the field of protection and promotion of human rights at all levels.