High peer pressure on kids to take part in riots: BHRWS

Children who refuse to take part in anti-government riots often face unfair treatment, according to the findings of a prominent Bahraini human rights organisation.

Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) stated that children who refuse to take part in riots are often marginalised and
mocked.

BHRWS General Secretary Faisal Fulad said the protesters have been using peer pressure to get children involved in riots. “They have a long track record of committing human rights abuses against children. What we have recently found is that they also use social pressures in their attempts to involve children in protests. They ask children to marginalise those who do not partake in riots against the government,” he said.

“The children are offered money for blocking the roads, hurling rocks and even molotov cocktails at the police. The children, who may not know how to handle the molotovs, could even injure themselves,” he explained.

He added the protesters have also prevented the children from going to school by blocking the roads. At least 200 cases of human rights violations were recorded against the protesters earlier this month as they were marking the fifth anniversary of the 2011 anti-government riots.

BHRWS, through its initiative “The Eye Centre,” recorded several cases of abuse against children. Fulad said the recorded cases will be provided to international human rights organisations and concerned authorities.

“We want to expose their crimes on an international level,” he said.