NIHR’s Chairperson: The Royal Directives to start setting up the Necessary Mechanisms for Correction Centres and Open Prisons reflect Serious and Sincere Political Will for the Development of Penal Systems
Engineer Ali Ahmed Al-Derazi, Chairperson of the National institution for Human Rights (NIHR), expressed his deep appreciation and pride in the royal directives to continue national efforts to advance the human rights system in the Kingdom of Bahrain, through the setting up of the necessary executive mechanisms and infrastructures necessary for the correction centres and open prisons according to specific controls, to ensure the reintegration of the beneficiaries of the program into their community and the strengthening of family cohesion and societal fabric.
Al-Derazi pointed out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the first Arab countries to implement the alternative sanction system, which is in line with the international human rights standards and protocols contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with regard to treatment of prisoners in a human and respectful manner, and the positive impact of alternative sanction in rehabilitating the convicts and reintegrating them into the community.
Al-Derazi stated that Bahrain’s adoption of open prisons is not only a qualitative leap in the justice and legislative system related to correction and rehabilitation but also a reflection of the serious and sincere political will to develop penal systems in line with modern approaches and to achieve social and psychological stability of convicts’ families.
The NIHR’s Chairperson called on for accelerating the implementation of the royal directives to put in place the executive mechanisms and infrastructures necessary to apply alternative sanctions to include larger segments of the convicts, calling at the same time all private and civil sectors, bodies and civil society institutions to accept those to whom alternative sanctions and measures apply in order to effectively contribute to their success and expansion to achieve their core purpose.
