COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILDREN STARTS EXAMINATION OF BAHRAIN'S INITIAL REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

CRC
29th session
28 January 2002
Morning





Delegation Says Tremendous Progress Has Been Achieved
in the Promotion and Protection of Child Rights



The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its examination of an initial report of Bahrain by hearing a Government delegation say that Bahrain has been able to achieve tremendous progress in promoting and protecting the rights of the child due to the reforms undertaken by the State.

Introducing the report, Fawaz Bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa, President of the General Organization for Youth and Sport and President of the National Committee of Childhood of Bahrain, said that long before signing the Convention in 1991, his Government had consistently supported and endorsed all endeavours to protect the rights of the child and the family. He said the best interests of the child were at the forefront when drafting and promulgating legislation, and such protection and care was provided to children in order to guarantee their welfare.

Mr. Al-Khalifa said his country has been able to achieve tremendous progress in promoting and protecting the rights of the child due to the political, economic and social reforms implemented by the Government. However, the State of Bahrain was not immune from certain handicaps which needed concerted efforts from the Government, civic society, families, parents, and the international community in order to tackle them, he added.

Committee members asked a number of questions relating to, among other things, early marriage; omission of articles from the Convention in the Arabic translation; the role of the various committees for children; the creation of separate schools for foreigners living in the country; how domestic violence was reported to the authorities; the lack of sufficient education for parents against ill-treatment of children; whether the Kafala system of adoption protected all children from any abuse; the situation of the 200 stateless families -- the Bidoon; and the status and registration of children born out of wedlock.

In addition to Mr. Al-Khalifa, the Bahraini delegation is composed of Saeed Mohammed Al-Faihani, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bahrain to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Turki Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa, First Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Amal Al-Dossary, Director of the Directorate of Childhood and Girls Activities; Mohamed Rashid Bu Hamood, of the Ministry of Interior and member of the National Committee of Childhood; Ali Al-Romaiah, of the General Organization for Youth and Sport; Salman Derbass, of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Khalid Al-Khalifa, Second Secretary, and Ali Al-Aradi, Third Secretary, both from the Permanent Mission of Bahrain in Geneva.

Bahrain is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it is obligated to provide the Committee with periodic reports on how it is giving effect to the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its consideration of the report of Bahrain and an Expert will offer preliminary remarks.


Summary of Bahrain's Report

The report, which is contained in document CRC/C/11/Add.24, enumerates the efforts of the State aimed at implementing the provisions of the Convention. It says that according to the 1998 estimates, the Bahraini population was 642,972 of which 251,953 were non-Bahrainis; and of the total population, 376,210 were male and 266,762 female. In the same year, the overall rate of fertility per woman amounted to 3.5 children for Bahraini women and 1.4 children for non-Bahraini women. The infant mortality rate amounted to 8.1 per 1,000 among Bahrainis and 10.2 per 1,000 births among non-Bahrainis; and life expectancy at birth stood at 70.55 for males and 72.59 for females among Bahrainis and 76.05 for males and 75.96 females among non-Bahrainis.

The report notes that since the Convention has become part of the country's law and, as such, is binding for all the authorities, any failure to comply therewith constitutes a breach of the law and entails criminal responsibility on the part of the offender. Any citizen can also lodge a complaint against administrative authorities with their senior officials, including the competent ministers; any Bahraini can submit a complaint in person to the Amir, the Prime Minister or the Crown Prince during the weekly audiences at which they receive citizens and others.

It also notes that the National Committee on Childhood is making various endeavours to make the rights of the child more widely known, including the promotion of awareness concerning the Convention and the reports on its implementation. The Committee is responsible for coordinating the preparation and implementation of a national plan of action and monitoring the implementation of the preparation and implementation of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s and the Convention. In addition, the Ministries of Health, Education and Labour and Social Affairs have established working groups to study the provisions of the Convention with which they are directly concerned.

Further, the report says that the State of Bahrain does not apply the system of adoption, as mentioned in the Convention, since the country's laws make provisions for the system of fosterage, in accordance with the Islamic Shari'a, as an alternative to adoption. The State and its numerous private organizations encourage the fosterage of orphaned and impoverished children. Consideration is currently being given to the adoption of fosterage procedures under which families would undertake the care and upbringing of children who would retain their independent names and under which non-Bahrainis would not be permitted to foster children from inside the State.


Introduction of Report by Delegation

FAWAZ BIN MOHAMED AL-KHALIFA, President of the General Organization for Youth and Sport, and President of the National Committee of Childhood of Bahrain, said that long before signing the Convention in 1991, his Government had consistently supported and endorsed all endeavours to protect the rights of the child and the family. The best interests of the child were at the forefront when drafting and promulgating legislation. Such protection and care was provided to children in order to guarantee their welfare.

In the education sector, all educational institutions, systems and programmes were complying with the constitutional provisions that guaranteed rights and freedoms, including meeting the needs of disabled children to enjoy special care, Mr. Al-Khalifa said. In the health care sector, numerous programmes had been implemented, including public awareness programmes, to reduce the mortality rate among infants, to reduce the incidence of infectious, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, as well as to reduce accidents.

Mr. Al-Khalifa said his country has been able to achieve tremendous progress in promoting and protecting the rights of the child due to the political, economic and social reforms implemented by the Government. However, the State of Bahrain was not immune from certain handicaps which needed concerted efforts from the Government, civic society, families, parents, and the international community in order to tackle them.


Discussion

Following the introduction of the report by the Bahraini delegation, the members of the Committee raised a number of questions relating to the general measures of implementation of the Convention and the definition of the child. They asked, among other things, how the National Committee on Childhood was independent, how complaints were lodged, and what measures were taken in case complaints were brought up to the Committee. What was the role of the National Committee on Human Rights? The Experts noted that Bahrain had ratified only three out of the six main human rights instruments of the United Nations, and it had not signed, among others, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. What were the results of the National Action Plan for children? What was the situation of migrant workers, especially in light of the fact that there were large numbers of non-national children? Were the articles of the Convention invocable before the courts? What conflicts were encountered in the implementation of the Convention and the Shari'a? What measures were taken to make Shari'a conform with the provisions of the Convention? Through what structure did children participate to make known their opinions? What were the legal provisions to prevent early marriages?

An Expert said that although the Islamic Shari'a had set an age limit for marriage, the Committee was concerned that 29.6 per cent of Bahraini women married before the age of 19 years. When girls married at an early age, they were hindered from furthering their studies and their childhood was interrupted.

Articles of the Convention had been omitted while translating it into Arabic, some Experts said, requesting an explanation from the Bahraini delegation.

Responding to the questions, the members of the delegation said that the status of women had improved with their appointment to high-ranking posts. The dialogue with UN bodies was still ongoing, and one was expecting to hear "good news" concerning the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Bahrain Society for Human Rights was a non-governmental organization that monitored the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, the delegation said.

Bahrain enjoyed one of the highest percentages of women workers -- 39 per cent -- and in the Universities, the rate was higher, the delegation said.

Asked why there was a general decrease in the education budget, the delegation said that the tendency for privatization had relinquished part of the Government's responsibilities in the field of education. The situation of budgetary reduction could also be attributed to the decline in grants from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The Saudis used to pay for Bahraini teachers in some sectors while Kuwait was active in building school and health infrastructures.

The delegation said that the National Committee on Childhood consisted of 15 members, representing ministries, governmental and non-governmental institutions. The members were responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention. The Committee received and addressed complaints submitted to the organs of various bodies, particularly complaints filed with the Ministry of Health's Committee for the Protection of Children against Abuse.

Non-nationals were not discriminated against in the provision of educational and health care services, the delegation said. They enjoyed all aspects of social benefits in the society. In Bahrain, foreigners were treated with full respect and esteem in keeping with the spirit of equality and friendship that characterized Bahraini society. They had access to the same judicial, security, cultural, health, education and other services as citizens.

The omission of some of the articles of the Convention in the Arabic text was not intentional, the delegation said. The lack of human resources might be the cause of such an omission.

The Islamic law -- Shari'a -- was not in conflict with the Convention, the delegation said. Both were designed to protect and promote the rights of the child. The assertion that Shari'a contradicted the principles of the Convention was a mis-perception of the Islamic law. Since there was no Shari'a court in the country, cases of conflict between the two sets of provisions had not been remarked. In addition, a Constitutional Court would be set up in the near future to settle any contradictions which might arise in the application of the Convention, the delegation added.

The Committee continued to raise questions on the second cluster of subjects pertaining to general principles; civil rights and freedoms; and family environment and alternative care. The Experts asked, among other things, why separate schools were created for foreigners living in the country; if domestic violence was reported to the authorities; why sufficient education was not provided to parents against ill-treatment of children; why a wife was not issued a passport without the permission of her husband; if the Kafala system of adoption protected all children from any abuse; if the situation of the 200 stateless families -- the Bidoon -- had been resolved; if the interest of children prevailed over issues pertaining to custody or guardianship; if free access was provided to non-Bahrainis to social services; and about the status and registration of children born out of wedlock.



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