May 12, 2008 7:05 p.m. EST

Sandeep Singh Grewal - AHN Middle East Correspondent
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Hussain Al Qanber is a stranger in his own country, with no passport or documents. He is married to a Bahraini woman, but despite being a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) national he is still waiting to become a Bahraini citizen.

"My wife is a Bahraini, but I am not. I hold a Saudi passport which does not guarantee housing or education to my family here. My father has stayed in Bahrain for 50 years," Hussain told AHN.

NGOs say five nations unfit to serve on UN rights body

AFP - Tuesday, May 6 11:53 pm

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Gabon, Bahrain, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zambia do not deserve a seat on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations' top rights body, two non-governmental organizations said Tuesday.

In a joint report, UN Watch and Freedom House, which champion human rights worldwide, lamented that Gabon and Zambia were guaranteed seats on the council because of a lack of competition from more democratic countries in their African group.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/04/24/10208133.html

04/28/2008 08:10 AM | By Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief

Adel Marzooq was deeply anguished, but the veteran columnist felt he had to write the painful truth: Bahrain is no longer the postcard image that he had known since his birth.

His homeland, regarded as one of the most peaceful places on earth, is turning into two antagonistic countries at the hands of its own sons and daughters stubbornly engaged in callous and immoral hostility over sectarian ideologies.

Hamida Ghafour, Foreign Correspondent

Last Updated: April 21. 2008 3:45PM UAE / April 21. 2008 11:45AM GMT

MANAMA // Behind the mosque in Karzakkan town, six young men stood in the shadows looking anxiously over their shoulders. A demonstration planned for the afternoon was cancelled when police officers armed with tear gas canisters and rubber bullet arrived. The youth were now looking somewhere to hide while the authorities searched the town for them.

“If they catch us, they will beat us,” said Habib Mohammed Habib, 20. “They already have my brother.”

Thu Apr 10, 6:05 PM ET

A policeman was killed when his patrol was attacked with petrol bombs in a Bahraini village south of the capital Manama overnight, police said on Thursday.

"A security force patrol was attacked by masked people. A police officer was killed and others were lightly wounded," the official news agency BNA quoted a police official as saying.

The official added that an inquiry had been launched into the incident which took place in a Shiite majority village.

Sandeep Singh Grewal - AHN Middle East Correspondent
Geneva, Switzerland (AHN) -- Bahrain made gender equality, women's empowerment and protection of migrant workers its main bragging points Monday as the country became the first to come under the scanner of the UN Human Rights Council here.

The three-hour interactive Universal Periodic Process session, shown live on the Web, was led by Dr.Nizar Al Baharna, minister of state for foreign affairs, who headed the Bahrain delegation. He was accompanied by lawmakers and senior government officials.

Nabli Rajab 7 April 08 - For the first session of the UPR organised by the UN Human Rights Council, activists from Bahrain have not been able to meet the delegations that will examine their country’s human rights record. They have been replaced by “false NGOs” sent by their government. Interview with Nabil Rajab, vice president for the Centre of Human Rights in Bahrain.

HRT

The United nations office at Geneva Photo: Fred Burnand 7 April 08 - Sixteen countries are getting ready on Monday for the universal periodic review (UPR). They are concerned about the teething troubles plaguing the new mechanism. At the top of the list is Bahrain that is coming with a 27 strong delegation.

Carole Vann/ Human Rights Tribune - For the first time in the history of the UN, member states are each going to be examined in turn on their human rights records. The inaugural session of UPR, the big new thing at the Human Rights Council, opens on Monday.

Posted : Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:13:12 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : World
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Geneva - The UN Human Rights Council's new mechanism for examining the human rights record of all 192 UN members in a rolling programme was put to the test for the first time Monday. Bahrain was among the first wave of 16 countries chosen to be scrutinized under the so-called universal periodic review mechanism in this first session which lasts until April 18.

Central Administrator - AHN Administrator
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Bahraini human rights activists were allegedly denied entry to a high level meeting called by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Brussels on Friday. The activists planned to discuss the Bahrain Human Rights Report submitted to the Council with three U.N. experts.

"Twenty participants from different countries attended the meeting. We were the only Bahraini activists not allowed to meet officials from the government and NGO's," the Bahrain Human Rights Society's Secretary-General Abdulla Al Derazi said.