Manama: Bahrain’s government has rejected a draft law allowing the participation of children in parliamentary and municipal election campaigns with the consent of their guardians.
“The draft law violates Article 60 of the Children's Law, which provides for the absolute ban on the political exploitation of children, especially in gatherings, rallies and demonstrations. The law does not permit the participation of child, even if their guardians or caretakers agree,” the government said in a memorandum, Bahraini daily Al Ayam reported.
“Childhood includes all those who are not more than 18 years of age. This category includes young children under the age of seven years. This is an age in which children have no real comprehension or recognition of matters, and therefore there is no justification for involving them in electoral campaigns or in other procedures or stages of the election of a parliament or a municipal council, even with the consent of the guardian or of a caretaker.”
The draft law also failed to explain the format of the guardian’s consent, which is required to achieve the elements of criminal liability for violation of the provisions contained in the legal text, the government added.
In the memo, the government said that it had received several proposals submitted by the Council of Representatives to amend some provisions of the Children's Law and put them in the form of draft laws.
“Since all these proposals are focused on amending the same law, the government considers it appropriate to merge them into one draft law in order to avoid the repetition of amendments to the same law, so that all of them can be discussed from all angles and all considerations are reviewed,” the memorandum said.
The current Council of Representatives, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament, will run until next year when the quadrennial parliamentary elections will be held.
Elections for the 40 members were held in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
