Backing up rhetoric with action in Bahrain
\nBy Stephen McInerney – 4 November, 2012 – Washington Post<\/p>\n
Stephen McInerney is executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur challenge in a country like Bahrain,\u201d Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last November, is that the United States \u201chas many complex interests. We\u2019ll always have to walk and chew gum at the same time.\u201d The growing problem is that the United States does plenty of \u201cwalking\u201d \u2014 maintaining our strategic alliance with the Gulf kingdom in the short term \u2014 but little or no \u201cchewing,\u201d or taking meaningful steps to spur the political reforms needed to preserve Bahrain as an ally in the long term.<\/p>\n
A late September vote on Bahrain\u2019s nominee for the advisory committee of the U.N. Human Rights Council gave Washington an easy opening. In a letter to Clinton early that month, 14 nongovernmental organizations, including the Project on Middle East Democracy, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, urged the United States to oppose the candidacy in light of Bahrain\u2019s egregious record on human rights.<\/p>\n
The nominee, Saeed Mohamed al-Faihani, has been a career official in Bahrain\u2019s Foreign Ministry whose recent tenure as undersecretary for human rights coincided with the government\u2019s brutal suppression of the country\u2019s civilian uprising. Faihani repeatedly denied the government\u2019s countless human rights violations, including torture of political prisoners and violent crackdowns on peaceful protests. His statements directly contradicted the findings of the government\u2019s own Commission of Inquiry and well-documented reports by international human rights organizations.<\/p>\n
Although Faihani resigned from his government post \u2014 days before the U.N. committee vote to meet eligibility requirements \u2014 his previous statements and blatant disregard for human rights in Bahrain gave the United States reason to question his qualifications.<\/p>\n
Instead, the U.S. delegation was silent, and Faihani was elected by acclamation.<\/p>\n
Bahrain quickly pointed to the election as an endorsement of the kingdom\u2019s human rights record. King Hamad called the vote a \u201crecognition of [Bahrain\u2019s] democratic and political record\u201d and evidence that Bahrain is \u201can oasis of human rights, co-existence, tolerance and love.\u201d Human Rights Minister Salah Ali \u2014 Faihani\u2019s former boss \u2014 called the unanimous total \u201ca vote of confidence for the kingdom\u2019s serious steps and positive role in protecting human rights.\u201d Washington did nothing to dispute these interpretations.<\/p>\n
The United States joined the Human Rights Council in 2009 promising to fight against \u201cthe pernicious machinations of countries seeking to obscure and deny their abuses\u201d through the council. When Washington helped eject Libya from the council in 2011, Clinton said it was \u201cclear that governments that turn their guns on their own people have no place on the Human Rights Council.\u201d<\/p>\n
More recently, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice highlighted successful U.S. \u201cefforts to prevent human rights abusers, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan from winning election to the Human Rights Council.\u201d Faihani\u2019s position on the council\u2019s advisory committee compromises the increased legitimacy that this work has bestowed on the council and encourages the widespread perception that the United States will confront human rights violations by Iran or Syria while ignoring the abuses of allies such as Bahrain.<\/p>\n
A single vote against Faihani may not have kept him off the committee, nor changed the human rights situation in Bahrain overnight, but it would have demonstrated U.S. seriousness toward both the council and accountability in Bahrain.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Bahrain\u2019s government has banned demonstrations of any size and upheld lengthy prison sentences given to teachers and medics for expressing their political views. It continues to crack down violently against daily protests. Washington has repeatedly expressed \u201cconcern\u201d about the state of human rights in Bahrain, but it is increasingly clear that such statements have little or no impact.<\/p>\n
While the Faihani vote was Washington\u2019s latest missed opportunity to take a stand, other openings remain. The U.S. administration could limit military assistance and training to Bahrain; sanction Bahraini officials responsible for gross human rights violations; more strictly enforce the rights requirements of the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement; or call for a special session on Bahrain at the U.N. Human Rights Council. Any of these steps would signal that Washington is finally willing to walk and chew gum, backing up its rhetoric with action.<\/p>\n