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Written question asked by Baroness Stern (Crossbench) on Wednesday, 3 March 2021, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 March 2021. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Tuesday, 16 March 2021 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Bahrain: Human Rights

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports that children in Bahrain have been arrested and had confessions coerced from them, what assessment they have made of the government of Bahrain's compliance with international (1) human rights law, and (2) standards in the treatment of detained children.

Answer

We are following recent juvenile detention cases in Bahrain, which are pending legal proceedings, and will continue to monitor them and raise them if/when appropriate. We understand they are being supervised by social work specialists. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to follow due process in all cases and to meet its international and domestic human rights commitments, including in the case of juveniles.

We believe the recent ratification of the Correctional Justice Act is a positive step. We note that this law will be enforced 6 months after its ratification on 18 February 2021. We understand that Article 87 will permit a Judicial Committee to hear cases and potentially replace penalties that were decided before the law was enforced. We will monitor the implementation of this new law, in light of international human rights standards.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL13881
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Children Detainees Human rights Bahrain
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk