WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION TO VISIT BAHRAIN FROM 20 TO 24 OCTOBER 2001

18 October 2001


The Commission on Human Rights Working Group on arbitrary detention will visit Bahrain from 20 to 24 October 2001 at the invitation of the Government.

The visit, the first by a United Nations human rights body to the country, comes as part of a process of constructive dialogue initiated several years ago between the Working Group and the authorities of Bahrain. The Working Group considers a broad range of issues concerning the protection of human rights, particularly in relation to detention.

The Working Group will meet senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice and Cabinet Affairs, as well as from the Judiciary and members of the Human Rights Committee of the Shura Council.

The delegation, led by Louis Joinet, Vice-Chairman of the Working Group, and composed of Leïla Zerrougui, member of the Working Group, and by the Working Group' s Secretary, will also be meeting with representatives of civil society and former prisoners and detainees.

The report on the visit will be published as an Addendum to the Working Group's report to the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on Human Rights.

Country visits allow the Working Group, through direct dialogue with the Government concerned and representatives of civil society, to understand better the situation prevailing in a particular country. The Commission has on numerous occasions encouraged Governments to invite the Working Group to their countries so as to enable it to discharge its mandate even more effectively.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established on 5 March 1991 by Commission on Human Rights resolution 1991/42. Its mandate was clarified and extended by Commission resolutions 1997/50 and 2000/36 and subsequently confirmed by resolution 2001/40. The Working Group is composed of five independent Experts appointed according to criteria governing equitable geographical distribution. It is headed by Kapil Sibal (India), Chairman/Rapporteur and Mr. Joinet (France), Vice-Chairman. Its other members are Soledad Villagra de Biedermann (Paraguay), Ms. Zerrougui (Algeria) and Tamás Bán (Hungary).




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