First: The right of citizens to express their opinion and articulate their political and social demands in a peaceful and civilized manner, regardless of their political orientation or sect, must be protected in accordance with the Constitution, National Action Charter and all related international norms, conventions and treaties, especially the International Declaration of Human Rights and the international covenants on civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights. Furthermore, the responsibility to protect this right rests with the State, which must safeguard it against any violations. 

Second: Waad deplores all methods practiced by security forces in dealing with peaceful protestors, and condemns modes of collective punishment in the form of bombarding neighborhoods with suffocating teargas, illegal raids, violating sanctity of homes and conducting arbitrary arrests against civilians without valid legal warrants. Accordingly, Waad holds the respective authorities responsible for the fall of martyrs, the violation of the sanctity of homes and illegal confiscation of private property and demands that the said authorities take immediate action to perform their obligations of reining in political and sectarian tension, whether through the cessation of incitement via local media or the withdrawal of civil militia dispatched to various areas. The aforementioned practices come as a blatant and flagrant violation of local and international laws and often place security forces above the law and beyond accountability, thereby jeapordising the State’s status and credibility in the international community. 

Third: The crisis in Bahrain is categorically one of a political and constitutional nature, and its resolution, accordingly, must be political. All attempts to alleviate the crisis through other means will be impractical and deviate from long term stable conflict resolution. Solutions utilising security measures will only increase political tension and augment losses on all fronts, including but not limited to, prolonged losses to the economy which is continuously deteriorating as the crisis continues without serious solutions offered by the government, despite regional support for the same. Practical solutions are required on the path of a serious dialogue with political opposition to transform the country from a security state into a civil democratic state that protects human rights and wholeheartedly believes in their sanctity. 

Fourth: The transitional justice necessary to convert the country into a true democracy requires the honest implementation of the BICI’s recommendations. At the forefront of such implementation is the immediate reinstatement of all sacked workers in their jobs, the payout of compensation for the entire duration of the unfair dismissal period and the unconditional release of all political prisoners of conscience arrested since 14 February 2011. In this regard, Waad reiterates the importance of the withdrawal of the letter issued by the government to the United Nations in April 2011 suspending its commitment to certain articles in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which came as a consequence of the promulgation of the National Safety Law which has since then been lifted in June 2011. 

Fifth: Peaceful resistance and demonstrations are the unsurpassed means to the attainment of the legitimate demands of those seeking freedom, justice and equal citizenship. Therefore, we categorically reject resorting to non-peaceful means, including the use of fire bombs “Molotovs” and others, which transforms this political struggle into a security battle to the ultimate demise of the legitimacy of the movement and resulting in irreparable damage costing the opposition dearly. This descent into violence extrapolates this struggle from the realm of politics and turns it into a security issue thereby playing into the hands of those who do not have Bahrain’s best interest at heart. 

Sixth: The just and legitimate nature of the Bahraini people’s demands for effective participation in political decision-making since 1923 and the consistent participation of all factions and key components of Bahraini society in struggles over the various period of political activism have won the unequivocal respect of the international community and civil society institutions. Such respect affords the political opposition legitimacy, reinforces the longevity of their peaceful resistance and enables them to stand firm on the demands for which more than fifty martyrs have lost their lives, hundreds have been wounded and many detainees suffered from loss of physical freedom and destruction of personal property.