Reflection 8

The Bahraini people have been engaged in revolts since the beginning of the Arab spring in late 2010 to early 2011. These demonstrations have not been revolutionary, rather they aim for deep political reforms such as a constitutional monarchy with an empowered parliament, an elected government, and an end to gerrymandering that has left Bahrain’s poor Shiite majority disenfranchised.  The Bahraini state has used violence to combat opposition groups and just today revoked the citizenship of 31 people including exiled political activists and former opposition members.  According to the opposition, every person on the list is part of Bahrain’s Shiite majority and the decision, which will render the majority of these people stateless, was made without due process of law.

In class we discussed gender-biased nationality legislation that is prominent in the MENA region. We used the example of Lebanon’s discriminatory family code that renders children stateless in circumstances such as divorce or death of a father when the mother is not Lebanese.  Statelessness is a major concern in the MENA region that affects hundreds of thousands of stateless persons. As of now, I could not find any evidence of internal Bahraini civil society groups calling for the release of these former citizens; most of the pressure is coming from outside NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, to which the Bahraini state does not have a record of listening.