NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 1. NATIONAL ANALYSIS The Kingdom of Bahrain has taken consistent steps in addressing human rights violations and promoting human rights principles across all sectors. With many social, political, and economic challenges and opportunities persisting and arising, the Kingdom of Bahrain has taken crucial steps in the promotion and protection of human rights. With the legislative amendments made to Articles 208 and 232 of the Penal Code concerning the recognition of the crime of torture and the non-exhaustion of the crime of torture, the enactment of the Law of Reform and Rehabilitation Corporation No. 18 of 2014, the establishment of the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission in 2014, and the 2015 establishment of the Ministry of Interior’s Department for Internal Monitoring and Investigation the mechanisms for the prevention of torture were established in accordance with relevant provisions of the Convention against Torture (CAT). These measures have resulted in positive results with the successful challenge lodged by the Special Investigation Unit, established by the Attorney General in 2012. Since the enactment of Law No. 1 of 2008 with respect to Trafficking in Persons, Bahrain has taken measured steps to combat human trafficking. With the 2008 establishment of the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) and the Committee for the Evaluation of Foreign Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Bahrain went on to enact Labour Law No. 36 of 2012, launch the Expatriate Protection Unit and the hotline to support human trafficking victims in 2015, launch the National Referral Mechanism for Victims of Trafficking in Persons and the Flexible Work Permit in 2017, and Trafficking Victims Assistance Fund in 2018. These measures, and the perpetuation of anti-human trafficking thought across all sectors over the 10 years since the start of a national comprehensive anti-human trafficking strategy, were key in the significant progress witnessed in the anti-human trafficking arena which saw the promotion of Bahrain to be a Tier 1 country according to the 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released by the State Department of the United States of America. These measures also led to the prosecution and conviction of many alleged human traffickers and those supporting them. With an increase in women’s representation in parliament, achieving a secondary or higher-level education, and participation in the labour force; women’s rights have taken a considerable jump in recent years. Without the need to implement tough measures like quotas, the establishment of The Supreme Council for Women to promote, encourage and protect women’s rights was successful in paving the way to a higher participation of women in key parliamentary and government positions as well as encourage the promotion of women to senior executive positions in the private sector. With the issuance of Family Law No. 19 of 2017, women’s rights have been safeguarded in both sections of Sharia Courts, and thus enabling women and children to safeguard their rights to a greater extent. Challenges still persist in Bahrain’s human rights efforts and require continuous efforts in combating them across multiple sectors. With the economic situation being one of the challenges, businesses are yet to adopt a consistent and methodical human rights approach to their operations as per the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. In addition, while Bahrain has taken strong steps towards safeguarding the environment through the establishment of the Supreme 8 Council for Environment, the human rights obligations relating to the right of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as well as the promotion of best practices relating to the environmental policy making has not been studied thoroughly from a national human rights perspective. 2. ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS After being accepted as a member in the Global Alliance of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (GANHRI) Statute in 2016 in accordance with the Paris Principals, the NIHR worked on developing capacity as an independent body and working within the UN framework to progress human rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain. NIHR worked on publicizing its programs and working closer with governmental and civil society organizations to further protect and promote the key principles of human rights as outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international and Regional conventions ratified by the Kingdom of Bahrain. During the period of the NIHR’s pervious strategy (2015-2018) the NIHR provided around 50 consultations to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In addition, it has strove to become more visible by launching and publicizing on a large scale the Human Rights Toll Free Hotline, which aims to provide a venue for alleged victims of human rights violations. In that light, and with the aim of combating human trafficking, NIHR, in cooperation with the NCCTIP opened a full time office in the Expatriate Protection Unit in Sehla. As part of its outreach and promotion program the NIHR has conducted more than 200 conferences, lectures, trainings, workshops, roundtables and talks with various local governmental and civil society organizations. These lectures have received a 93.50 percent approval rating as an average of the 2017 and 2018 survey by participants after the events. In order to build organizational excellence and maintain the quality and promptness of service the NIHR received the ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality management system after being audited by Bureau Veritas Holdings UK Branch. It also enacted the Code of Conduct for the Council of Commissioners and the Code of Conduct for NIHR Staff. It furthermore launched the Complaints Policy and Procedures Guide in 2015 and updated them in 2018. The NIHR implemented an electronic system for tracking and follow-up and a Customer Management System (CMS) to help track complaints. NIHR needs to further develop its research capabilities and provide an avenue to progress human rights research and developing the capacity to provide human rights thought leadership. Cooperation and coordination with civil society organizations also needs to be strengthened and developed and a greater number of programs supporting civil society organizations that could further promote and help protect human rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In addition NIHR needs to develop KPIs in order to showcase progress and success in achieving its goals and identify areas of weakness that could be enhanced. Special care needs to be taken to expand the survey aspect and administrative data analysis in order to help study the effects of national policy and NIHR programs. 9