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| Photo Credit: CIA World Factbook/NASA/ISS |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Anniversary of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report
Press Statement
Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 23, 2012
Today marks the one year anniversary of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report. In the year since commissioning the landmark report, the Government of Bahrain has taken some important steps to implement the BICI recommendations, including allowing the International Red Cross to visit prison facilities, issuing new protocols on arrest authorities and a new Police Code of Conduct, reinstating some workers and students, beginning to rebuild religious sites, and other reforms that allow the Government to pursue additional BICI recommendations. However, there continue to be delays in fully implementing the report’s recommendations, particularly regarding accountability for official abuse, limits on freedom of expression and assembly, meaningful security sector reform, and a political environment that has become increasingly inhospitable to reconciliation.
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| Map: Bahrain. Credit: CIA World Factbook |
We are also concerned about rising violence in Bahrain. In the last month, police, protesters, and bystanders have been killed. We continue to urge all Bahrainis to pursue their political objectives peacefully and the Government of Bahrain to exercise restraint in responding to peaceful protests.
Since the unrest began last year, the United States has urged the Government of Bahrain to implement reforms and to address ongoing human rights concerns, including by fully implementing the BICI report recommendations. We will continue to encourage the Bahraini Government and all segments of Bahraini society to create an environment conducive to political dialogue and reconciliation. The Bahraini Government can only achieve the more prosperous, stable, and secure Bahrain it seeks through the continuation of the reform efforts it has initiated and must now fully implement. We look to leaders in Bahrain — government officials, political leaders, and civil society — to build on these initial steps and help realize the aspirations of all Bahrainis. Bahrain is a valued strategic partner and longtime friend of the United States, and we will continue to support these important efforts.
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| Locator Map: Bahrain. Credit: CIA World Factbook |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
In 1783, the Sunni Al-Khalifa family captured Bahrain from the Persians. In order to secure these holdings, it entered into a series of treaties with the UK during the 19th century that made Bahrain a British protectorate. The archipelago attained its independence in 1971. Facing declining oil reserves, Bahrain has turned to petroleum processing and refining and has transformed itself into an international banking center. Bahrain's small size and central location among Persian Gulf countries require it to play a delicate balancing act in foreign affairs among its larger neighbors. In addition, the Sunni-led government has struggled to manage relations with its large Shia-majority population. During the mid-to-late 1990s, Shia activists mounted a low-intensity uprising to demand that the Sunni-led government stop systemic economic, social, and political discrimination against Shia Bahrainis. King HAMAD bin Isa Al-Khalifa, after succeeding his late father in 1999, pushed economic and political reforms in part to improve relations with the Shia community. After boycotting the country's first round of democratic elections under the newly-promulgated constitution in 2002, Shia political societies participated in 2006 and 2010 in legislative and municipal elections and Wifaq, the largest Shia political society, won the largest bloc of seats in the elected lower-house of the legislature both times. In early 2011, Bahrain's fractious opposition sought to ride a rising tide of popular Arab protests to petition for the redress of popular grievances. In mid-March 2011, with the backing of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) capitals, King HAMAD put an end to the mass public gatherings and increasingly disruptive civil disobedience by declaring a state of emergency. Manama also welcomed a contingent of mostly Saudi and Emirati forces as part of a GCC deployment intended to help Bahraini security forces maintain order. Since that time, intermittent efforts at political dialogue between the government and opposition have remained at a stalemate. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), formed in June 2011 to investigate abuses during the unrest and state of emergency, released its final report in November 2011. The King fully endorsed the report, and since then Manama has begun to implement many of the BICI's recommendations, including improving policing procedures, reinstating fired workers, rebuilding some mosques, and establishing a compensation fund for those affected by the unrest and crackdown. Despite this progress, street protests have grown increasingly violent since the beginning of 2012.
