Comments were in response to US criticism of Bahrain’s human rights record

Published: 16:01 June 16, 2015

Manama: Bahrain has urged the United States to respect minority rights and work to prevent hate crimes based on race, religion.

Bahrain’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Youssuf Abdul Karim, said he hoped more positive measures are taken to ensure cultural diversity and equality of rights.

The Ambassador’s remarks on Monday were in response to a statement delivered by the US delegation criticising Bahrain’s judiciary. “We call on the Government of Bahrain to sign an MOU with OHCHR for technical cooperation and to engage robustly with the High Commissioner,” the US said in its statement. “We are deeply concerned about the continuing criminal cases on grounds of political expression and assembly.”

However, Bahrain rejected the concerns as groundless.

“Further to the issues raised in the statement of the US delegation, the Permanent Representative noted that the trials were a result of the actions by some individuals criminalized under the law,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“They have nothing to do with practices of fundamental freedoms guaranteed constitutionally. The Permanent Representative also rejected the doubts about the competence of the judiciary in deciding on pending cases in front of it and its independence. In response to the statement of the United States, which urged Bahrain to reach an agreement on cooperation with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Permanent Representative stressed that the technical cooperation project with UNHCR is still under study, and that the Kingdom of Bahrain is keen to reach a mutually satisfactory framework, the ministry added.