‘Bahrain Govt prioritises human development in all dimensions’

Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdulla Al Doseri has affirmed that the Kingdom was keen on enabling society in all its categories to enjoy their full economic, social and cultural rights through a legal and procedural system that achieves social justice, insurance against disease, poverty, and inability to work, and eliminating unemployment by creating decent work opportunities, which was emphasised by the National Action Charter and the Constitution, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to maintain human development in all its dimensions.

He pointed out that the Kingdom does not have extreme poverty, and basic services are provided free of charge to all, especially education, health and social services, and the Kingdom has been able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals before the deadline in the year 2015, and has also incorporated the goals of sustainable development 2030 into government action programmes.

He noted that this came on the occasion of the Kingdom of Bahrain submitting its first national report under international human rights law and the Kingdom’s joining the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the year 2007 according to Law No (10) of 2007, the United Nations Committee through which the Kingdom reviews laws, policies and measures it has taken and progress made in order to ensure respect for and promotion of human rights at all levels.

The Assistant Foreign Minister exemplified that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the countries with very high human development, and in line with the major European countries, as it continues to rise on the scale of all development indicators, as for example, the average life expectancy at birth reaches about 76 years, and reaches per capita gross domestic product to $28,240, and this high level of human development has been reflected in the system of social protection for citizens, as 15,354 citizens have benefited from social security assistance, with a total value of 15,620,950 BD.

He added that 11,006 citizens were also subsidised from the benefits of beneficiaries of disability, and the total amounts disbursed amounted to BD12,047,800, and the number of beneficiaries of the high allowance amounted to 118,393 Bahraini families, with a total value of 91,069,730 Bahraini dinars.

He also pointed out that the average indicators for the average Bahraini family income increased by 47 per cent since 2008, and the success of diversification efforts in the economic sectors, which increased the non-oil sector’s contribution to the Kingdom’s economy by 80pc of the gross domestic product, and the economy’s growth by 28pc during the years 2008- 2015, and the increase in foreign investment to three times since 2008.

He stated that the Ministry of Labour and Social Development is implementing a number of important steps and programs for economic empowerment of families, individuals and civil organisations in the Kingdom, by encouraging and promoting small projects, the most important of which is the “Bahrain Productive Families Project” which is one of the successful projects in empowering families, especially women, thus improving the opportunities and livelihoods of these families, raising their incomes, and improving the quality of their lives.

He noted that since the establishment of Tamkeen, more than 200 programmes and initiatives have been launched in many fields such as financing, training, qualification and encouraging entrepreneurship, and nearly 13,000 citizens have been trained and qualified in various disciplines. Tamkeen has invested more than BD800 million since its launch in 2006 and has provided support to about 100,000 Bahraini citizens and more than 35,000 institutions in various disciplines and fields.

In the context of providing housing services to citizens, the Assistant Foreign Minister highlighted that the Kingdom of Bahrain was interested in providing shelter to citizens and improving housing and neighbourhoods, as well as fulfilling the Kingdom’s responsibility to provide legal protection to ensure tenure and equality in the right to land acquisition.

He noted that the constitution stipulated that “the state works to provide housing for people with limited incomes from citizens”, and based on that, about 65pc of citizens were able to own their homes through public housing programmes and services in the past four decades according to the best international standards, and the Ministry of Housing to implement 40,000 housing units as quickly as possible and deliver them to those who deserve them.