Bahrain has undergone transformative changes in its understanding and management of human rights issues: Former US Ambassador to Bahrain

Washington, Apr. 9 (BNA): Former US Ambassador to Bahrain Sam Zakhem, has lauded the legislative and legal measures taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain to ensure the protection of human rights, citing the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman at the Ministry of Interior and the Special Investigation at the Office of the Public Prosecutor, in addition to the adoption of significant legal reforms, such as raising the juvenile age to eighteen, providing for alternative sentencing, and de-emphasising the role of confessions as evidence of guilt. In an opinion piece published in the US “National Interest” magazine, under the theme “How Bahrain Is Improving its Human Rights Record”, Ambassador Zakhem said that the American officials should ‘re-balance’ their approach to human rights and that not all protestors are high-minded Jeffersonians, noting that Bahrain strives to confront these challenges openly, which required more cooperation by the United States to produce better results.” Ambassador Zakhem recalled the statement of former US President Ronald Reagan who said in 1987 that “Ounce for ounce and inch for inch, Bahrain is America’s best friend in the world today,” adding that “thirty-four years later, his assessment remains truer than ever.” The ambassador indicated that Bahrain is a “multi-ethnic, multi-confessional melting pot in which the vast majority of citizens seek to better themselves economically, politically, and socially. They have lived together peacefully for centuries, and their modern history has been forged in concert with Western values and political and economic models.” He asserted that over the past decade, the Bahraini leaders have been working assiduously to “bring their human rights practices in line with international standards,” noting that “many of these reforms get short shrift from skeptics, but they shouldn’t be so blithely dismissed.” “Over the past ten years, the government of Bahrain has taken bold and concerted action. In 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (Bassiouni Commission) released its report into the unrest of that year and made far-reaching recommendations, many of which have been implemented. They include giving dismissed employees their jobs back, compensating families of victims of state violence, instituting human rights training for police and security forces, and dismissing or imprisoning security force members for excessive use of force.” “But the government has gone further. It has established an Ombudsman’s Office in the Ministry of Interior and a Special Investigations Unit in the Office of the Public Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute official wrongdoing. Since their inception, these bodies have handled thousands of complaints and imposed penalties on hundreds of law enforcement personnel found to have violated the law. Significant legal reforms have been taken that raise the juvenile age to eighteen, provide for alternative sentencing, and de-emphasise the role of confessions as evidence of guilt. “Bahrain has also undergone transformative changes in its understanding and management of human rights issues. There now exist unprecedented measures for legal protection, oversight, and accountability to protect citizens from governmental excesses. More importantly, its leadership from the king on down recognizes the need to further expand and protect civil and political rights,” he added. He denounced the keenness of some critics not to recognise the positive developments. “Some detractors will never be satisfied, however. They will continue to label Bahrain a pariah as long as members of the opposition remain incarcerated or prisoners allege abuse. This ‘all or nothing’ approach is misguided, he said. The critics’ approach is “based on a presumption of guilt—that the government of Bahrain is intent on abusing the rights of its citizens and that the corrective measures represent little more than flimsy attempts to appease its critics and to hide the truth,” he said, noting that this approach “ignores the fact that no country is free from criticism, and it applies standards of performance that appear higher than those to which Bahrain’s neighbours are held.” The former US Ambassador expressed dismay over the fact that “criticisms lack context and homogenize detainees. Many of Bahrain’s highest-profile prisoners are bona fide bad actors. Some have plotted and carried out targeted acts of violence involving sophisticated explosive devices that have killed scores of police. Others are members of groups that the United States has designated as foreign terrorist organisations. The evidence against them is overwhelming and not the product of forced confessions. They are violent extremists—armed, trained, and funded by hostile foreign powers.” He pointed out that “just as Europeans and Americans have struggled to control the scourge of terrorists in their midst, so are Bahraini institutions grappling with this threat. It is a difficult and existential challenge, and like pluralistic societies everywhere, they will admit that it is a work in progress. Concluding his article, Ambassador Zakhem urged the US officials to ‘re-balance’ their approach to human rights, stressing that “principled advocacy of universally recognised civil and political rights is a must, but the world is a messy place. Facts matter, and not all protestors are high-minded Jeffersonians.” “As Bahrain strives to ‘confront these challenges openly,’ a more cooperative and less adversarial approach by the United States would produce better results,” he said. Sam H. Zakhem served as a member of the US House of Representatives for the Colorado State. He also served as a US Ambassador to Bahrain from 1986 to 1989 during President Ronald Reagan’s presidency.