CAT/C/CR/34/BHR
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(i)
The adoption of the National Action Charter in 2001 which outlines
reforms aimed at enhancing non-discrimination, due process of law and
the prohibition of torture and arbitrary arrest and stating, inter alia, that
any evidence obtained through torture is inadmissible;
(ii)
The promulgation of the amended Constitution;
(iii)
The creation of the Constitutional Court in 2002;
(iv)
The establishment of a new bicameral parliament with an elected chamber
of deputies;
(v)
Decree No. 19 of 2000 giving effect to the new constitutional provision
establishing the Higher Judicial Council, drawing a clear dividing line
between the executive branch and the judiciary and thereby reinforcing a
separation of powers stipulated in the Constitution;
(vi)
Decree No. 4 of 2001 abolishing the State Security Court which had
jurisdiction over offences against the internal and external security of the
State and emergency legislation, which are now heard by the ordinary
criminal courts;
(vii)
Decree No. 11 of 2001 repealing the State Security Law;
(b)
The State party’s accession to international human rights treaties including the
Convention against Torture in 1998 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women in 2002 and assurances from the delegation that the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights “have been agreed upon and are in the process of ratification”;
(c)
The withdrawal of its reservation to article 20 of the Convention;
(d)
The visit to Bahrain in 2001 by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which
was granted unrestricted access to all prisons and police station holding cells and was able to
speak freely and without witnesses to prisoners it selected at random;
(e)
The publication of the foreign worker’s manual;
(f)
Reports that systematic torture no longer takes place following the 2001 reforms.
C. Subjects of concern
6.
The Committee expresses its concern at:
(a)
The persistent gap between the legislative framework and its practical
implementation with regard to the obligations of the Convention;
(b)
The lack of a comprehensive definition of torture in the domestic law as set out
in article 1 of the Convention;