73pc drop in complaints received, says Ombudsman

Manama : The Office of the Ombudsman said it experienced a 73 per cent decline in the number of complaints received concerning gross violations when compared to that in the period from 2015 to 2016.

The statement was made on the occasion of releasing the fourth annual report (2016-2017) which details complaints received and their sources as well as related statistical factors.

The report showed that around 60pc of the 1156 complaints received were requests for assistance, with females filing 348 complaints, males 761 and local and international human rights organisations filing 41 complaints.

“All the allegations were probed and notified to the Special Investigation Unit,” the statement said adding that it works within the criminal justice system stipulated clearly in the decree of its establishment.

In a first, the report included the statistics of the performance of the internal auditing and investigation directorate which specialises in receiving complaints. The report also states that the agency reviewed the training programmes for the Interior Ministry personnel.