Second Annual Report of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) 2014 - Kingdom of Bahrain 11. In the field of hosting and organizing educational and training conferences, seminars and courses related to human rights, and based on its belief in the prominent significance of the initiative of His Majesty the King for complementing the protection of Arab human rights mechanisms by establishing a specialized Arab court of human rights, NIHR, under the auspices of the King, organized the first international conference on the “Arab Court of Human Rights” over two days (25 to 26 June 2014). The conference, supported by the House of Representatives and the Shura Council, was held in cooperation with the Arab Network of National Institutions for Human Rights, the League of Arab States, and the Arab Parliament. 12. A number of regional and international bodies, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, similar (American, European and African) regional courts, the League of Arab States, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, a group of experts in international human rights law and international humanitarian law, observers, academics and human rights activists worldwide, as well as relevant civil society organizations participated in the conference on the Arab and international levels. 13. Various working papers were considered in the conference, including those that addressed topics related to the steps taken towards setting up the Court and reviewing the reforms in the League of Arab States in the field of human rights. The participants subsequently addressed the potential role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Arab Parliament for the success of the court. The most important provisions of the draft statute of the Arab Court of Human Rights were further addressed. 14. Drawing on regional experiences similar to the work of the Arab Court of Human Rights, the experience of the European Court of Human Rights and its role in protecting human rights in the European continent, the experience of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in protecting human rights in the Americas, and the experience of the African Court in protecting human rights in the African continent were addressed in the conference. 15. On the sidelines of the conference, four specialized workshops were held. The first workshop dealt with “Arab human rights organizations and institutions findings”. The second workshop addressed “Defining the relationship between the Arab Court of Human Rights and human rights mechanisms of the League of Arab States”. The third workshop was entitled “The role of national human rights institutions and civil society organizations in supporting the Arab Court of Human Rights work”. The last workshop addressed the theme of “Assessment and following up the recommendations of the Arab Conference on the development of the human rights system of the League of Arab States for 2013”. These workshops resulted in producing reports that stated views for evaluation of the draft statute of the court. 16. The conference was concluded with issuing “Bahrain Declaration”, which includes recommendations concerned with the development of the Statute of the Court. These recommendations call for relentless pursuit for the development of the statute of the Arab Court in light of the successful experience of regional and international human rights courts, including the court judge system, considering all options for issuing the statute of the Court, including considering it as one of the additional protocols of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, examining the international human rights conventions acceded to by States Parties as one of the legal references to be relied on by the Arab court, in addition to the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and any other Arab human rights agreement to which the contending States are party, and confirming the provisions of Article 43 of the Arab Charter of Human Rights. 48