Bahrain Monitor in UNESCO: Gov practices cultural persecution and systematic sectarian discrimination

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Bahrain Human Rights Monitor (BHRM) delegation held several meetings with officials in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.The visit comes in concurrence with the UNESCO’s celebration of World’s Day for Cultural Diversity on May 21st, however, the Bahraini government’s violation of freedom of cultural expression against a large segment of Bahrainis continues.The delegation met with the chief of World Heritage Unit, Ms. Veronique Dauge. During the meeting, the head of religious freedoms in the BHRM, Sheikh Maytham al-Salman discussed the deliberate neglect of certain cultural and religious monuments in Bahrain, especially those located in the northern district.Al-Salman said monitoring the Bahraini authority’s handling of cultural and religious and humanitarian monuments has become a civil and humanitarian duty of the concerned institutions, especially after the scraping of Aali hills that go back to more than 5000 years and the demolishing of Al-Brabaghi mosque which is more than 450 years old.The delegation also held a meeting with Ms. Danielle Cliché, Secretary of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the UNESCO and which Sheikh Maytham Salman highlighted the Bahraini government’s systematic cultural persecution against a large segment of the Bahraini people.Salman also clarified the Bahraini people’s openness to cultural diversity and that systematic cultural persecution is strange to the Bahraini society as the authority today practices systematic cultural persecution and sectarian discrimination against the Shiites in Bahrain and how this fosters antagonism between the local cultures.Al-Salman also highlighted the official media’s role in inciting sectarian hatred and promoting racism in Bahrain, while (independent) civil society institutions seek to promote cultural openness and acceptance of pluralism in the society which has been known in its surroundings to be among the most open and tolerant, but some aggravating parties in the authority are still inciting sectarian hostility and racism among the people.While, Ms. Danielle Cliché expressed her happiness to find the civil society institutions and the BHRM interested in the World Day for Cultural Diversity and called for the continuous celebration of this day.Ms. Cliché pointed out that Bahrain is obliged to the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, however, Bahrain has not yet signed the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity for 2005. She said Bahrain government should be urged to sign the convention which already 182 countries are part of, and it can then be held accountable for the authority’s practice of any type of cultural persecution. /129