A UK MP and his brother are taking legal action against a London-based group, over its criticism of Britain’s support for Bahrain’s reform push.
The Belfast-based Causeway Institute for Peace-Building and Conflict Resolution is suing the campaign group Reprieve, in response to a highly critical report released in May.
Causeway Institute director Kingsley Donaldson described the report as “highly inaccurate and misleading”.
In its report, Reprieve questioned the work of Northern Ireland Co-operation (NI-CO) and the Causeway Institute for training Bahraini police and prison staff on human rights.
It was compiled in co-operation with the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights and Democracy, a group of Bahraini opposition sympathisers in London, and questioned more than £5 million spent by the British government between 2012 and 2017 on a programme of technical assistance to Bahrain.
This assistance also included helping establish independent bodies such as the Ombudsman’s Office, which investigates police misconduct, and the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission.
“The Causeway Institute, supported by the British Embassy, worked in Bahrain from 2013 to 2016 supporting international and national groups, government and non-government organisations to advance the understanding and development of human rights in the country,” Mr Donaldson told the GDN yesterday.
“We stand by the work that we carried out, with people drawn from across the full spectrum of political, religious and civil society groups in Bahrain.”
He added the Reprieve report failed to portray an accurate assessment of the situation.
“The Reprieve report that has commented on our work is highly inaccurate and misleading,” added Mr Donaldson, whose brother Jeffrey Donaldson is an MP and chairman of the Causeway Institute advisory board.
“Reluctantly, we have chosen to take legal action in order to deal with these matters.”
The GDN contacted Repreive for a comment, but it did not respond yesterday.
However, the Bahrain Embassy in London accused the organisation of frequently releasing one-sided reports that targeted groups co-operating with Bahraini authorities.
First Secretary Fahad Al Binali said this was despite such efforts helping improve the human rights landscape in Bahrain.
Reform
“The technical co-operation programme focused on areas of police and security reform and also in areas of the criminal justice system,” he said.
“The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s (BICI) report recommended the establishment of oversight bodies, such as the Ombudsman Office – a police and prisoner ombudsman – to which there was no equivalent in the region.
“As a result, training, standards of procedure, models to adopt were unavailable in the region and there was little, if any, Arabic source material from which to draw.”
He described the challenge of establishing oversight institutions in Bahrain as significant and one that required international expertise.
“These institutions have had to go through a phase of defining their legal frameworks, recruiting staff, training them as well as establishing and refining standards of practice and procedure,” said Mr Al Binali.
“The work between NI-CO, the Causeway Institute and institutions in Bahrain has been a critical part of the reform process in direct response to the BICI recommendations.
“For Reprieve – or any other human rights group – to dismiss the effectiveness of those oversight bodies, the integrity of the Northern Irish experts and the values of all involved in Bahrain and UK is unfair and unjustified.
Misguided
“Additionally, disregarding the challenges of establishing of such institutions, the steep learning curves and the complexities of changing social and institutional cultures would seem to rob these institutions of any chance of success.”
The Bahraini diplomat said such co-operation had led to more accountability and oversight in Bahrain.
“It would be a shame to see that come to an end over the misguided intentions of people who may have a political agenda that stretches beyond reform,” he added.
“Oversight bodies are judged by their results and a few years since their establishment, these results are clear and documented.”
Meanwhile, he encouraged those demanding further reform to support the country’s efforts, rather than criticise progress to date.
“If those calling for reform in Bahrain really want it, they should join in the process and support the efforts of collaboration, training and the institution of best practices that has resulted from the co-operation between the UK and the Kingdom of Bahrain,” he said.
Progress
“There is an acknowledgement that more needs to be done but, at the same time, there is real evidence from the reports of these entities that a lot of progress has been achieved.”
In 2016 an international criminal justice expert criticised another report by Reprieve, which called for Northern Ireland to stop training security forces and Interior Ministry staff in Bahrain.
At the time Pauline McCabe, an international consultant and formerly the Prisoner Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, said Bahrain’s human rights record had been repeatedly criticised since 2011, but based on her work in the country she had seen real progress.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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