Member of the Representatives Council Ahmed Al Sa’ati has received the Political Advisor at the European Union Commission and during the meeting; the Bahrain-European Union relations were reviewed.
The Adviser said that a seven-member human rights delegation from the EU will visit Bahrain in the end of this month to hold talks with their counterparts here, as well as a number of human rights officials, noting that the visit will also have an economic dimension.
He added that preparations are underway for the joint GCC-EU Foreign Ministers, to be held in Bahrain.
He noted that the European Commission will organise, in collaboration with the International Bar Association (IBA), a workshop at the Representatives Council on “The Role of Parliament in commitment to the rule of law and implementation of constitutional guarantors related to human rights” as part of EU’s efforts to support Bahrain in implementing the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).
MP Al-Sa’ati briefed the EU official on the on-going National Consensus Dialogue as the only way out of the situation the kingdom is going through.
The European Commission’s Advisor expressed the EU’s support for the National Dialogue, calling upon the interlocutors to enhance mutual trust through bilateral initiatives and meetings so as to reach consensual solutions on political, economic and social reform.
Al-Sa’ati said that some human right organisations tend to mix their human rights role with political work.
The EU official said that the reason behind that is that those organisations receive little information about the situation in Bahrain.
He added that the issue of human rights has become important in shaping up international relations, affirming the need to step up cooperation in order to ensure all countries’ commitment to human rights principles and conventions.