Human Rights Watch: Legal reforms in Bahrain have little effect on stopping abuses

Human Rights Watch confirmed that the legal reforms announced in Bahrain have little effect to stop the massive violations in the country.
“Despite mounting evidence of abuse, the British government has not criticized Bahrain’s arbitrary detention of children or even retracted its statements that appear to support these measures,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate director of the children’s department at the organization.
He pointed out that “six boys are still arbitrarily detained in Bahrain for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails that slightly damaged a car next to a police station in Sitra in January 2021 when they were between 13 and 14 years old.”
“Bahrain is violating children’s rights under the Restorative Justice Law, which was announced last year, and the law improves some protections for children, but it still falls short in fulfilling Bahrain’s human rights obligations,” Esveld said.
“For example, the law does not guarantee the right of children to communicate with a lawyer and their parents during interrogation and provides for the possibility of children being detained if they participate in unauthorized protests.”
He concluded by emphasizing that “the British government should reconsider its uncritical support for the detention of children by the Bahraini authorities and call for real reforms now.”