Report Prepared by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 11020604

The Unemployment Committee is an elected body which was established on the 18th of September, 2005 by a number of unemployed Bahraini citizens who, as they expressed, exhausted all means of finding employment with a decent wage which supports and efficiently covers their most basic needs.

Around 800 members had elected forty members to the central committee, which decides strategies and policies and elects the executive board. The current executive board was elected on the 9th of December 2005 and it consists of the following members: Ahmed Jaffar Ali, Hassan Abdelnabi, Sameer Al-Asfoor, Suhail Saleh Ali, Abdulla Mohsen, Faeka Al-Hasan, La’alea Al-Hayki, Layla Dashti, Mohsen Al-Salman, Moosa AbdAli, Maytham Al-Skeikh, Najji Fateel and Nader Al-Salatna.

The Committee derives its legitimacy not by Bahraini Law which prohibits the establishment of such committees without the placement of constraints, which would cripple the committee from exercising any of the rights and actions that it bases its foundation and organization of events on. Rather, it legitimizes its movement based on the fact that it is an elected representative of a large number of Unemployed and Low-paid citizens. The committee bases its work on relevant International norms.

The main goals of the committee can be summarized in three fundamental objectives that it strives to achieve:

1. The demand of jobs with a salary of no less than 350BD, which was set according to an inflation plus to the amount specified by the Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research in a report published in 1994, which specified this amount as sufficient to cover a Bahraini Citizens basic need.
2. The demand of Unemployment Security as called for by the Bahraini constitution.
3. The demand of minimum wage or financial support for those citizens receiving wages less than the established minimum pay [1].

The Unemployment Committee is neither an employment agency, nor does it train the unemployed. It was formed as a means to pressure different government bodies and other parties that have the ability or the authority to help fulfill the goals set by the committee.

The Unemployment Committee has staged a large variety of events in the past year. Examples of those events are:

• A peaceful demonstration during the Formula One that took place in Bahrain. The event took place by the Seef district on the 2nd of April 2005.
• A Human Chain by the Sheikh Isa Bridge on the 9th of September 2005. This was a part of the International Campaign to combat poverty.
• A demonstration near the Bahrain Training Institute, which was dispersed by force by the Kings Private Guard leading to injuries on the part of many demonstrators. This was on the 22nd of December 2005.
• A rally in protest to the assault and kidnapping of one of the active members of the committee by security forces on the 29th of September, 2005.
• A protest in response to the security forces sexual and physical assault on a member of the Unemployment Committee, Mr. Moosa AbdAli [2].

The Committee held several meetings and seminars related to the developments in the Unemployment problem and the follow up of events, especially those dispersed by force and led to injuries. One such seminar staged in cooperation with a Human Rights Society, was: “The Facts of What Happened at the Kings Court” Which presented Videos and photographs which made it evident that the security forces had used excessive force to disperse demonstrators who had taken part in the Unemployment Committees rally at the Kings Court, as well as presenting eye-witness accounts of the event. This seminar was held by the Bahrain Society for General Freedom and Support of Democracy, at the National Democratic Labor Society on the 3rd of July 2005. A detailed report was prepared by the Freedom Society outlining the violations.

The Second seminar followed another demonstration dispersed by force, which lead to numerous injuries amongst the demonstrator, some very serious. Of those injured were prominent Human Rights Activists who had taken part as observers, and innocent bystanders.

Members of the unemployment Committee have complained of continuous harassments by the security forces and intelligence, in a direct attempt to try and intimidate them into refraining from staging events that had proved embarrassing to the government in general and the head of the state in particular. Several members had been threatened by summons to police stations or by phone.

One of the active members of the committee Hassan Abdelnabi was subjected, twice, to kidnapping, interrogation and a severe beating by masked men whom he identified as being part of Security Forces. Moosa AbdAli, another active member was kidnapped, sexually and physically assaulted and left in an uninhabited area.

Other members of the unemployment Committee also faced threats which made them fear for their safety. This lead to several members of the committee joining Human Rights activists to stage a peaceful sit-in at the United Nations Building in Manama last December, to bring the UN and world attention to the violations that are taking place in Bahrain.

Notes:

[1] Information used in this report was taken from the Unemployment Committees Memorandum and other reports prepared by the Committee.

[2] Refer to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights Report Ref: 04020603