BAHRAIN HOSTS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

UNCLAS MANAMA 000073

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KWMN BA
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN HOSTS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Sensitive but unclassified (deliberative process); please
protect accordingly. Not for Internet distribution.


1. (U) Amnesty International (AI) and the Bahrain Social
Partnership to Stop Violence Against Women hosted a women's
rights conference in Bahrain January 8-9. More than 60
activists from Bahrain, other Gulf countries, and Lebanon
attended. They called on their respective governments to
reform existing laws that discriminate against women and
introduce new laws that protect women. They stressed that
both governments and societies must promote greater awareness
of violence against women and must be more willing to stop
it. The conference was the first of its kind in the Gulf.
Bahrain's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs planned to
participate in the event, but at the last minute announced it
would not. The Ministry offered no explanation.


2. (U) The conference was part of Amnesty International's
worldwide "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign, which was
launched in London last year. Organizers in Bahrain joined
the AI campaign in October 2004. Conference attendees called
on governments to review all laws to ensure that they do not
discriminate against women and that they provide adequate
safeguards for women. Most participants also urged their
governments to ratify the International Convention to
Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
though certain provisions (i.e., regarding women's rights in
marriage and divorce) of the convention were unacceptable to
more religiously conservative attendees. Islamic and Legal
Studies scholar Sheikh Sadeq Jibran said "there is a need for
additional Islamic studies to address misconceptions about
what is contradictory to the Islamic Sharia. This issue must
be urgently addressed because it may lead to more
misunderstanding on the contents of CEDAW."


3. (U) Presenters at the conference said human rights
education plays a vital role in changing a stereotypical
image of women that makes them more susceptible to violence.
Many still believe, for example, that women should "keep
family secrets" and not report abuse. Participants
underscored the need for statistics and reliable research to
show the extent of the problem. They called for the creation
of a regional research center to conduct surveys and provide
analysis on discrimination and violence against women. They
said that without concrete evidence, many people will deny
that problems exist. (Note: A conference participant
revealed that Interior Ministry figures show that there were
764 complaints filed in 2003 for physical of verbal abuse
against women in Bahrain, compared with 1,232 in 2002 and 867
in 2001. She did not comment on whether the decrease was due
to a drop in abuse or a decline in reporting. End Note.)
Participants also endorsed AI's call to include expatriate
housemaids in labor law provisions. Most countries in the
Gulf employ large numbers of foreign domestic workers and
abuse is widespread.


4. (SBU) Comment: Bahrain's hosting this conference
demonstrates an increasing interest in addressing women's
issues in the country. Women's rights NGOs here are well
organized and effective. We are encouraged that they are
already asking for U.S. assistance in preparing female
candidates for the 2006 municipal and parliamentary
elections. The AI conference brought together a diverse
group of women -- some very conservative and some very
liberal. The partnerships they built are certainly a good
start to regional cooperation in combating violence and
discrimination against women.
MONROE