MEDICAL NEUTRALITY IN BAHRAIN

That this House condemns the violations of medical neutrality in Bahrain since 2011; expresses deep concern regarding the attacks on medical professionals, the militarisation of the central public medical facility in that country, the dismissal of medical professionals who assisted injured protesters and the administration of military trials against medical professionals who delivered medical care to the wounded; notes the failure of the Bahraini government to bring an end to such violations, as evidenced by the continued detention of Dr Ali al-Ekri and the failure to reinstate all dismissed medical professionals to their previous positions; further notes the recommendations of the Foreign Affairs Committee in its Fifth Report of Session 2013-14 on UK Relations with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, HC 88, in particular the recommendation that Bahrain should be designated as a country of concern if there is no significant progress by the start of 2014; believes that this progress has not been made; and urges the Government to designate Bahrain as a country of concern and to make strong representations to the Bahraini government to end its violations of medical neutrality.