Manama, October 6th (BNA) –Bahrain News Agency (BNA) held a forum on the Arab Court for Human Rights, which Kingdom of Bahrain will embrace its main headquarters, reviewing, through specialists in the human rights issue, the nature of the similar courts and the trials took place in them.

BNA also reviewed the form of the expected basic system of the court, its judicial competence, procedures for filing a lawsuit, the validity of the issued judgments by this court, the extent of the commitment to such judgments, and the mechanisms of their implementation, etc.

The Head of Bahrain Bar Society, the lawyer Abdul Rahman Ghunaim highlighted that the initiative of HM the King to establish the court, will fully reinforce the area of human rights in the Arab States, in the light of the conditions witnessed in the region.

Abdul Rahman Ghunaim called for an explicit provision with the basic system of the court, which will oblige countries that have provisions issued by the court regarding them, to implement them the same way as they implement the provisions issued by the national courts.

Abdul Rahman Ghunaim also called on benefiting from the similar regional courts, like the European Court, and the American Court for Human Rights, concerning the commitment to the ruling and putting it into force.

For his part, the former MP and lawyer Farid Ghazi lauded the establishment of the court adopted by the Arab League in its last meeting in September 2013, as a result for the initiative and proposal of HM the Monarch of Bahrain.

Farid Ghazi highlighted that Manama hosting of the headquarters of the Court will give a boost to the Arab world in general and Bahrain in particular in the field of human rights, calling on the Court to be committed to the Charter of the League of Arab States, whether by Arab states signing special protocol to abide by, as well as compliance with international known human rights conventions.

Farid Ghazi called on the importance of emulating the European Court of Human Rights in the area of implementation the judgments issued by the Court expected to be formed.

He also highlighted that the European Court for Human Rights has another work, which is to present a consultative opinion for the European Countries in the area of human rights, which is expected from the Arab Court for Human Rights that is expected to be established soon.

In a reply for a question on the obligation of the provisions issued by the court on the Arab member states, Farid Ghazi said that the obligation of those provisions are problematic, and there is another problem which is defining the validity of the lawsuit filed to the Arab Court for Human Rights, whether it is accepted before filing it to the Court or not.

Farid Ghazi also called on forming a committee which follows the Arab Court for Human Rights to receive the complaints submitted, to study their nature, and evidences for taking decision concerning them before considering them in front of the Court.

Farid Ghazi objected on the issue of linking the submission of the cases in front of the Arab Court for Human Rights with the completion of submitting those cases in front of the local degrees of litigation inside the Arab states, so as not to become a severe hindrance for the litigant, especially since the submitted cases of human rights in the Arab states are generally few and rare.

For his part, the Deputy Chairman of Human Rights Association, and Head of the Complaints and Follow-up Committee, Abdullah Al-Dirazi stressed that the Court will play an important role in reinforcing human rights in the region.

He highlighted that the Court will be concerned only with the completion of litigation procedures in front of the local judiciary inside the country, then if the citizen feels that they were not satisfied with the judgment, or their case was not mainly accepted, they can refer to the Arab Court of Justice.

Abdullah Al-Dirazi pointed out that such Court will review the cases of torture and discrimination, in accordance with the international conventions stipulated in human rights agreements.

He said that individuals and institutions will have the right to file lawsuits in front of the Court.

Abdullah Al Dirazi also said that the penalties issued by the regional human rights courts are limited to paying compensations, calling on the Arab Court for Human Rights to rule with the same judgments and make them obligatory.

He said that the cases submitted in front of the regional human rights courts are not from an individual against another, but from an individual against a country or one of its institutions, or an official in this country, highlighting the importance of the adoption of the basic ” Manama System ” for the Arab Court of Human Rights.

MR

BNA 1653 GMT 2013/10/06