MOFA organizes consultative meeting

Manama, Sep. 8 (BNA): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has organized a consultative meeting with a number of representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSO), chaired by the Minister’s Assistant for Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Faisal bin Jabr Al Dossari. The meeting which comes within the keen desire of the Ministry to reinforce its partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSO), was held to discuss the mechanism to be adopted in drafting the third national report on the universal periodic review (UPR) of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The meeting examined a proposal on inviting a human rights expert from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bahrain to take part in the preparation of the report which is expected to be submitted in November 2016. The Assistant Foreign Minister stressed that the distinctive participation of civil society organizations in this consultative meeting indicates their keen interest and that of the Ministry, to deal seriously and transparently with various national issues, in line with the directives of the wise leadership, especially those relating to promotion and protection of human rights as well as fundamental freedoms and all political, civil , social, economic and cultural rights. He also stressed the ministry’s interest in activating cooperation and coordination with the relevant ministries, government agencies and NGOs to exchange views, discuss human rights issues and promote Bahrain’s achievements to keep pace with the march of reform and democracy, in line with the Kingdom’s voluntary commitments towards international human rights covenants and conventions. He said that respect for human rights has a prominent position in the ongoing reform project of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and is guaranteed by the modern and sophisticated system of legislation and executive and judicial procedures that go in conformity with the provisions of the national Constitution and international human rights covenants. He noted Bahrain’s effective follow-up and response to the UN Human Rights Council mechanisms and its interest in taking advantage of the expertise of the United Nations and its specialized agencies to further consolidate the rule of law and institutions. He said the month of February 2017 is the date for the discussion of the national report within the mechanism of the universal periodic review in light of Bahrain's outstanding record of transparency and confidence in the constitutional and legislative mechanisms. At the conclusion of the meeting, Al Dossari affirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain is proceeding ahead with its march of democracy, human rights protection and development efforts within the existing cooperation between the executive and the legislature to strengthen the powers of independent human rights organizations, protect the independence and integrity of the judiciary and support civil society organizations, including Human rights institutions.