| Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society |
Article Index for Bahrain |
Website Links For Bahrain |
Information AboutBahrain Human Rights Watch Society |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BAHRAIN HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SOCIETY | |
| human rights in bahrain | |
| politics of bahrain | |
| liberalism in bahrain | |
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Its president is Huda Azra Nono , making the Society unique in the Arab world in being the only human rights group headed by a Jewish woman. Ms Nono is a business woman and cousin of Ebrahim Nono, who sits on Bahrain’s Shura Council . Another prominent member is former trade unionist and National Democratic Action activist, Faisal Falud , who also sits on the Shura Council. The Society has sought to support women’s rights activists’ campaign for the introduction of a personal status law to protect women in divorce and child custody. In association with the National Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women, the BHRWS launched the Respect Movement, a petition in support of the Personal Status Law {Link without Title} . The second part of the Respect Movement’s agenda is a petition for laws to protect housemaids, who are not currently protected by Bahrain’s labour laws. Both campaigns have put the BHRWS in direct opposition to Bahrain’s clerics, who oppose the introduction of the Personal Status Law because a codified law would undermine the discretion of religious judges to determine family cases. Clerics are also unhappy that legislation to protect housemaids will make them too expensive for poorer families – and therefore a direct attack on some of their most loyal supporters. The BHRWS’s defence of leftist writer, Sameera Rajab, also brought the Centre into conflict with Islamists: in 2004 the over the right of journalists to criticise clerics. The Society has also clashed with Salafists , specifically after the group organised a candle lit vigil for the victims of the Al Dana boat tragedy and Asalah MP Adel Mouwda criticised the laying of a wreath as against religious values. The Society's Faisal Falud responded "We did not do anything that was against religion especially that Islam is a religion of tolerance and compassion. The public tribute is not an unhealthy innovation as some people have said, but a compassionate attitude that helps people appreciate how tolerant and inclusive Islam is, particularly that our religion is being relentlessly savaged by anti-Muslims in several countries." {Link without Title} Mr Falud’s position on the Shura Council and the BHRWS’s specifically liberal agenda has led to allegations that it is too close to the government to be effective. EXTERNAL LINKS
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