Meeting

The NIHR’s Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up Committee held its ordinary ninth meeting under the chairpersonship of Ms. Maria Khouri. The meeting was attended by Committee members Dr. Hameed Ahmed Hussein and Dr. Mona Hijris.


During the meeting, the Committee reviewed all complaints and requests for assistance and legal advice received by the NIHR during the last period. The complaints covered claims of arrest without following the legal procedures as well as claims of depriving a lawyer of meeting his client. The Committee contacted the competent authorities to ensure such claims are addressed and appropriate decisions are taken. In addition, the Committee received some requests for assistance, legal advice and scrutiny of the procedures to be followed in various cases. On the other hand, the Committee reviewed the cases monitored through the local newspapers and social media networks as well as the actions taken regarding the same; especially communication with the authorities concerned.

It is worth mentioning that the complaints received in the last year reached 65 complaints compared with 108 requests for assistance. The committee decided to upload its statistics on the website of the NIHR and to update the same continuously.


Other complaints received included claims of failure to receive the treatment or health care in the detention centers and the arrest without following legal procedures. This included the claim of depriving an individual from exercising his right to freedom of movement by banning him from traveling without showing the reasons. The competent authorities have been contacted to ensure the issues raised regarding such claim are addressed. The Committee took the suitable decision in this regard. 

The Committee also received some requests for assistance, legal advice and scrutiny of the procedures to be followed for different issues. On the other hand, the Committee reviewed the cases monitored through the local newspapers and social media networks as well as the procedures taken regarding the same; especially communication with the authorities concerned.

During the meeting, the committee reviewed the reports prepared on occasion of NIHR's follow- up and attendance at some court cases, which are included in the competences thereof in order to ensure conformity of the same with the international standards related to the right to fair trial and to stress the importance of coordination and cooperation with the Supreme Judicial Council to attend all cases heard before the courts in all instances thereof according to the competences of the NIHR stipulated in article (12) of Law No. 26 of 2014 on establishing it.

On the other hand, the Committee reviewed a proposal prepared by the Secretariat -General on the controls of granting the temporary permit for inmates of the correction and rehabilitation centers to attend the funeral ceremonies of the deceased relatives. Chairperson Ms. Maria Khouri commended the efforts exerted by the Secretariat -General to complete the role entrusted to it according to Law No. 26 of 2014 on establishing the NIHR and she decided to complete the discussion of the proposal in the next meeting.

Ms. Maria Khouri lauded the cooperation of those in-charge of correction and rehabilitation centers as well as all competent authorities that save no effort to provide assistance in providing the most appropriate solutions to the submitted complaints and requests for assistance. She stressed the importance of working through the Committee, especially the Council of Commissioners generally may not function effectively except through continued and transparent cooperation and communication between all parties and this is supported by the commitment and instructions of the wise leadership in order to keep and protect the human rights and respect for the rule of the law supremacy.
  
It is worth mentioning that the Complaints, Monitoring and Follow-up Committee is one of the standing specific committees in the NIHR and it is tasked with receiving complaints related to human rights from citizens and residents and even from the authorities through various means; studying and examining such complaints; determining the best methods to deal with the complaints and following up on the same effectively. Moreover, the Committee is involved in informing the citizens and residents concerned of the procedures applicable in case of any complaint, providing assistance in relation to such complaints and assisting in settling the same with the authorities concerned. 

Moreover, the Committee monitors the violations of human rights in the Kingdom, provides proposals related to the initiatives with a view of eliminating these breaches, performs field visits in accordance with the applicable principles to monitor the situations of human rights in the correction institutions, detention places, labor assemblies, health and educational centers or any other places suspected to be a location for violations of human rights. The Committee receives the complaints and the requests for assistance included in its competence at the NIHR's headquarters in the Seef District or via its website www.nihr.org.bh.