UK & US refuse to sign UN document censuring Bahrain

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Britain and the United States have refused to sign a UN document condemning the ongoing human rights abuses in Bahrain, local media report.Some major European countries including Germany and France signed the document adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, and called on the tiny Persian Gulf island nation to do more to protect civil liberties in the country.Bahraini forces, backed by Saudi troops, crushed a pro-democracy uprising in early 2011, but protests have reemerged in recent months despite ongoing repression.“We express our concern over the human rights situation in Bahrain, both the violations that took place in February and March 2011 as well as the related ongoing ones,” the document said.“We are particularly concerned about the consequences faced by those who protested for democratic change in a peaceful manner,” it added.The US has remained quiet on the human rights situation in the country, which is the host of its Fifth Fleet, while condemning government crackdowns in Syria and elsewhere.In Syria, Britain and the United States of America are backing an armed insurgency against the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose government has recently held a nationwide referendum on the question of the country’s Constitution and its reforms.Meanwhile in Bahrain, activists have accused global bodies such as the Human Rights Council of being pressured into silence on the issue of repressing dissent. Maryam Al-Khawaja, acting head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, welcomed the document and its adoption."This is the first step in showing that the Human Rights Council will not allow the implementation of double standards, although they have allowed it this long," she said.She condemned the decision by the US and Britain to not sign the treaty as evidence of "double standards" on human rights."The thing that disappoints us most is the fact that the United Kingdom and the United States decided not to sign, which to us says a lot more about how they are insisting on implementing double standards when it comes to supporting or standing against human rights violations in different countries." /129