Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the combined initial and second periodic report s of Bahrain *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1–4)

1.Please provide updated information on:

(a)Progress made towards the adoption of the bill on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD/C/BHR/1-2, paras. 24–25),and steps taken to review and harmonize all legislation, policies and measures, including the removal of derogatory terminology, to adhere to the Convention and the human rights model of disability;

(b)Measures taken to ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of the National Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (para. 35);

(c)Steps taken to ensure and promote the effective participation of organizations of persons with disabilities in public affairs, including the participation of women and children with disabilities, in the design and monitoring of legislation, policies, programmes and regulations relating to persons with disabilities;

(d)Any steps taken to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention, including a corresponding time frame.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5–30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

2.Please inform the Committee about measures taken:

(a)To review legislation and practices with a view to prohibiting discrimination and to ensuring equal and effective legal protection against all forms of discrimination on the basis of disability, including multiple and intersectional discrimination, in compliance with the Convention and taking into account the Committee’s general comment No. 6 (2018);

(b)To recognize the denial of reasonable accommodation as a form of discrimination on the grounds of disability in the public and private spheres.

3.Please provide information on the existing judicial and administrative remedies available in cases of discrimination on the basis of disability. Please provide disaggregated data on the investigations conducted, sanctions imposed and remedies provided, including in cases of multiple and intersectional discrimination.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

4.Please update the Committee on:

(a)Measures taken to mainstream the rights of women and girls with disabilities into all legislation, policies and programmes to adhere with the Convention and in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No. 3 (2016);

(b)Steps taken to support and empower women with disabilities through leadership of representative organizations and the building of their own organizations.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

5.Please provide information on:

(a)Specific measures taken and strategies in place to ensure the protection of the rights of children with disabilities;

(b)Steps taken to facilitate the full inclusion of children with disabilities, including those with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, in all areas of life;

(c)Measures taken to conduct public education and awareness-raising programmes, including campaigns, to combat and prevent discrimination against children with disabilities, as recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/BHR/CO/4-6, para. 17 (c)), particularly against girls with disabilities.

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

6.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to raise awareness throughout society, particularly among persons with disabilities, their parents and families, relevant professional groups and government officials at all levels, regarding the rights and dignity of all persons with disabilities and to promote the human rights model of disability. Please indicate the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of awareness-raising strategies.

Accessibility (art. 9)

7.Please provide information on:

(a)Legal and other measures taken to ensure the accessibility for persons with disabilities, including for persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, of all facilities and services open or provided to the public, including health care, education and transport services, and of information and communications;

(b)Accessibility standards in place, their monitoring mechanisms and effective remedies for persons with disabilities who have been denied access to the physical environment, transport, information and communications, or services open or provided to the public.

Right to life (art. 10)

8.Please indicate measures taken to establish a formal moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to completely abolishing it, including with regard to persons with disabilities.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

9.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To establish a targeted, sustainable humanitarian emergency framework to ensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, and specifically in the context of the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In particular, please inform the Committee about the measures taken to provide persons with disabilities with accessible information concerning the virus’s scope and prevention of the virus; to ensure continuous access to support and mainstream community services, including in-home care and personal assistance; to provide equal access to health care, including life-saving measures; and to ensure that disability pensions and social benefits are guaranteed at all times;

(b)To implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

10.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to repeal all laws that deprive persons with disabilities of their legal capacity, particularly persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, and to establish supported decision-making regimes for persons with disabilities to replace guardianship and other systems of substituted decision-making in all areas of life;

(b)The number and proportion of persons with disabilities under guardianship, particularly persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities;

(c) Steps taken to ensure the equal right of all persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, to own or inherit property and to control their own financial affairs, including the handling of bank accounts and banking services and including access to electronic services.

Access to justice (art. 13)

11.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure full, unrestricted and effective access to justice for all persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, on an equal basis with others at all stages of legal proceedings, including by providing procedural and age-appropriate accommodation and accessible information about their rights;

(b)Steps taken to run awareness-raising campaigns, including by providing training programmes for lawyers, court staff, judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, on the rights of persons with disabilities, including on access to justice for women with disabilities.

Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)

12.Please provide information on steps taken to review and repeal laws that allow for the deprivation of liberty on the basis of actual or perceived impairment, in particular for persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities. Please also inform the Committee of any measures taken to end the confinement of persons with disabilities based on disability, including forced hospitalization and institutionalization.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment(art. 15)

13.Please inform the Committee about steps taken to prevent torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons with disabilities, including medical or scientific experimentation without the free and informed consent of the individual concerned. Please inform the Committee about measures taken to establish a complaints mechanism and ensure the provision of redress to victims.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

14.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to prevent and combat all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities, including women and girls with disabilities. Please also provide information about measures taken to ensure effective monitoring mechanisms for all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities;

(b)Measures taken to provide training for and raise awareness among persons with disabilities, their family members, support providers and staff within the health and law enforcement sectors to help them recognize and report all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse;

(c)The complaints of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities that have been registered by the complaints monitoring committee at the High Commission for Disabled Affairs, disaggregated by sex, age and type of impairment, in both urban and rural areas.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

15.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to protect women and girls with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, from forced sterilization and forced abortion.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

16.Please provide information on:

(a)Legal and other measures taken to repeal any laws that prevent persons with disabilities, regardless of the type of impairment, from choosing their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others, and from being included in the community;

(b)Rights-based deinstitutionalization strategies, their time frames and the specific human, technical and financial resources allocated for their implementation;

(c)Statistics, disaggregated by type of impairment, sex and age, on the number of persons with disabilities and their families, particularly in rural areas, that benefit from existing support schemes (paras. 129–133).

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

17.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Steps taken to ensure the accessibility of information and communications and other services open or provided to the public in all settings, through appropriate modes, means and formats of communication such as sign language, Braille, audio or tactile information, augmentative and alternative communication, Easy Read and pictograms;

(b)Measures adopted to recognize Bahraini Sign Language as an official language and to promote the learning of sign language, the availability of qualified sign language interpreters and the use of sign language in all settings, in particular in education, in the workplace and in community settings.

Respect for privacy (art. 22)

18.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to ensure respect for the privacy of persons with disabilities, regardless of living arrangements;

(b)The implementation of the rules and regulations on the penalties imposed for failing to respect the privacy of persons with disabilities (para. 146);

(c)Steps taken to protect the privacy of personal data, digitalized databases and records concerning persons with disabilities, including health records and rehabilitation-related information, from unlawful and arbitrary interference, on an equal basis with others.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

19.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Steps taken to repeal all discriminatory legislation that denies persons with disabilities their rights regarding marriage, family, adoption and parenthood on an equal basis with others, without discrimination and on the basis of their free consent;

(b)Measures taken to prevent the abandonment, neglect and institutionalization of children with disabilities, and to ensure their access to inclusive community-based services and alternative care in a family setting.

Education (art. 24)

20.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to promote inclusive education without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and to ensure the provision of individualized reasonable accommodation in mainstream schools at all levels, including through the adoption of regulations, policies and programmes with measurable indicators and timelines;

(b)Steps taken to ensure that mandatory training for all teachers and non-teaching personnel on inclusive education is made an integral part of training at all education levels;

(c)Statistical data on the percentage of children with disabilities who are deprived of education, as reflected in updated data disaggregated by age, sex, nationality and type of impairment, in both urban and rural areas.

Health (art. 25) and habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26)

21.Please inform the Committee about steps taken:

(a)To ensure accessible health-care facilities, services and equipment for persons with disabilities, especially in rural areas, and to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to the same quality and standards of health care as others;

(b)To train all health professionals on the rights of persons with disabilities, including the right to free and informed consent, and on communication with persons with disabilities;

(c)To ensure access to sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls with disabilities, including those with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, and to awareness-raising programmes on their health rights. Please provide statistical data on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls with disabilities;

(d)To promote comprehensive and community-based habilitation and rehabilitation programmes for persons with disabilities.

Work and employment (art. 27)

22.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Steps taken, including plans and policies, to increase and develop employment opportunities for and the recruitment of persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in public and private sectors and in rural and urban areas;

(b)Measures taken to ensure the provision of reasonable accommodation to employees with disabilities in the workplace and to ensure remedies and sanctions for the denial of reasonable accommodation;

(c)Data, disaggregated by type of impairment, sex, age, duration of employment, professional qualifications, about persons with disabilities in formal employment, in both the public sector and private companies.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

23.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to improve the standard of living and social protection of persons with disabilities in both urban and rural areas, including older adults with disabilities;

(b)Measures taken to provide support services, including financial support, to children with disabilities and their families and to families in which one or both parents have disabilities, to ensure an adequate standard of living;

(c)The situations of families of non-citizens with a family member with disabilities living in poverty or extreme poverty, in urban and rural areas, and their access to social protection and entitlements from the State party on the grounds of disability.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

24.Please inform the Committee about steps taken to repeal provisions in Legislative Decree No. 14 (2002) that restrict the right of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities to participate in elections. Please update the Committee on steps taken to ensure secrecy in the voting process for persons with disabilities, and the measures taken to provide an accessible voting environment for persons with disabilities, including an accessible physical environment and information in accessible formats.

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (art. 30)

25.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Progress made towards ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled;

(b)Measures taken to ensure that cultural, recreational, tourism, leisure and sports events and services in the public and private sectors, beyond those specifically dedicated to persons with disabilities, are accessible to persons with disabilities, including children and women with disabilities.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31–33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

26.Please inform the Committee about the development of statistics- and data-collection systems that are based on the human rights model of disability, in accordance with the Convention. Please provide information about the application of the Washington Group short set of questions on disability in its statistical data-collection policy, programmes, census and surveys. Please clarify whether available data is disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, type of impairment, socioeconomic status, employment status and place of residence.

International cooperation (art. 32)

27.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in the planning and monitoring of international cooperation activities, including with respect to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

28.Please update the Committee on:

(a)The work undertaken by the High Commission for Disabled Affairs and its subcommittees, and measures taken to ensure coordinated implementation of the Convention;

(b)The extent to which persons with disabilities and their representative organizations are involved in the monitoring of the implementation of the Convention;

(c)Steps taken to ensure that the National Institution for Human Rights is independent and operates in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles).