Section I: The human rights situation in the kingdom of Bahrain 1. The human rights situation indicator in any system is subject to two criteria in the principle of the rule of law: The first is the need for the legislation in force to be harmonized with international human rights standards and decisions, and the second is that practical practices by public authorities aimed at the realization of human rights should be in line and those standards and decisions. 2. In this section we will review the most important laws or decrees of the laws within the duration of the report, and the extent of their compliance with the relevant international human rights decisions, as well as the visuals submitted by the NIHR to the legislative and executive authorities, in addition to a review of the actual practices of some rights through the complaints received by the NIHR. 3. At the level of national legislation, the NIHR spotted the issuance of a number of national legislations relevant to respects to human rights, whereby based on an extrapolation of such legislation it became clear that it is aligned with the provisions of the Constitution and international standards so as to enhance the civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights in the state system. 4. From such legislation, which was compatible with international standards and which will improve the situation of human rights in the Kingdom was the enactment of Law No. (9) for the year 2016 on specifications and standards, where the law is aimed mainly at maintaining public health and safety for consumers and protecting them from fraud and injustice while ensuring quality of the goods in accordance with standard specifications. 5. T  he NIHR applauds the issuance of Law No. (13) for the year 2016 amending some provisions of Law No. 26 of 2005 on political associations, which included the inadmissibility of combining between membership or affiliation to political associations and engaging in religious preaching and public speaking, and also the inadmissibility of combining between religious work and political work in all cases. 6. W  ith respect to political rights, Law No. (14) was issued for the year 2016 amending some provisions of Decree Law No. (14) for the year 2002 on the exercise of political rights. It included reference to a number of offenses related to exercising political rights, which in essence are crimes or offenses with tightened punishment meant for the protection of the electoral process. 7. I n the field of protection of economic civil rights, a series of legislations were issued that were meant to create an economic and investment environment that fosters civil and commercial transactions and benefits the general economy of the Kingdom. This included the enactment of Law No. (18) for the year 2016 on Investment Companies, Ltd., and Legislative Decree No. (27) for the year 2016 amending some provisions of the CBB Law and financial institutions promulgated by Law No. (64) of 2006, and Decree Law No. (22) for the year 2016 on protected cell companies, and Legislative Decree No. (23) for the year 2016 (the Trust law). 56