“Women Leading Democracy Building in Myanmar: Shaping Global and Local Strategies”, workshop scheduled for January 15th and co organized by The Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Concord Institute Myanmar, addresses the issues behind women’s public and political participation, empowering women to challenge historic prejudices, bias and stereotypes and enhance their visibility. Women are encouraged to become change agents, to participate in the decision making processes, fight gender violence, be more active in the policy making field starting at the drafting table, become more aware of their rights and develop a stronger voice to press for demands.
The purpose of the workshop is not to address specific women but a critical mass able to influence the political norm and lead to change and advancement of women in the public sector. The workshop aims to signal the importance of networking, the strategic linkage between women lobbyists, representatives of the civil society, media and not-for-profit sector and women politicians especially when it comes to supporting the emancipation of women. Comparisons to other states and inspiration from good practices approaches are encouraged. Key speakers include Jane Harman, director and CEO of Woodrow Wilson Center and Dr. Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Wilson Center, Dr. May Win Myint, Member of the National League for Democracy's Central Executive Committee and Member of Parliament, Her Excellency MyatMyat Own Khim, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Than Tha Nu, Secretary of the DPN Party and member of Peace and Conflict Committee, Zin Mar Aung, Recipient of the Woman of Courage Award by Secretary Hillary Clinton, Susana HlaHla Soe, peace leader for Kayin Ethnic Group, Mădălina Mocan, Executive Director at Ratiu Foundation for Democracy and Soe Win, representative of Myanmar Women Leaders Network. The workshop is also attended by Pamela Raţiu, Executive Director of The Raţiu Family Charitable Foundation to Romania.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the 2012 Ion Raţiu Democracy Awardee, will be honoured with the prestigious award this January 16th in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. The award is presented by Mr. Nicolae Raţiu, chairman of The Raţiu Family Charitable Foundation.
The Ratiu Center for Democracy, based in Turda, Romania, is looking for partner organisations in EU, as well as neighboring and partner countries, to send up to 10 volunteers for an EVS project on the February, 1st call for projects.
Every year on January 17th we honor the memory of Ion Ratiu who, after fifty years in exile, returned to Romania and fought for and supported its return to democracy. Ion Ratiu wrote in his Daily Notes his hopes, thoughts and comments about Romania, such pages are an inspiration for all of us here at the CRD, our programs, projects and activities are a celebration of this legacy.
On January 17th we offer all those interested a complete set of Ion Ratiu’s Daily Notes (text in Romanian). Write to us at office@ratiudemocracycenter.org and get your own free set (shipping expenses not included). We welcome all those willing to share with us by email their thoughts and memories of Ion Ratiu.
Beginning 2013 The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation and Ratiu Center for Democracy are the partners of Oxford Literary Festival. The inaugural Ratiu Democracy Lecture takes place this March 23rd, 17.00 and will delivered by Adam Michnik, the 2009 Ion Raţiu Democracy Awardee, at the Sheldonian Theater in Oxford. The event is hosted by The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation and the Ratiu Center for Democracy, in association with Oxford Brookes University and the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC.
The lecture, “Pitfalls on the road to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe (Havel, Geremek, Chodorkowski)”, is an exploration of post-communist realities, including a critique of the new political elite and reflections on the (in)ability to deal with a troubled past. In his lecture, Michnik refers to 1989, a turning moment when dictatorship ended in Poland, the Berlin Wall fell and the Velvet Revolution and the dismemberment of the Soviet Union took place. The democratic movement that followed in Poland was best described, according to Michnik, by Bronisław Geremek, the strategist behind the transformation that led to the rule of law and market economy. An example, however, that this process has not been successful in all cases is Michaił Chodorkowski, a man who turned from Russia’s main oligarch into its prisoner of conscience. To learn more about the event and book your ticket click here.
A book signing session is scheduled to take place after the lecture, Adam Michnik’s last translation to English, ”In Search of Lost Meaning” (University of California Press, 2011), will be available on site.
Adam Michnik is the 2009 Ion Ratiu Democracy Awardee and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's largest daily newspaper. “Democracy: Traps and Question Marks”, the lecture he delivered at the awarding ceremony, can be viewed here. Adam Michnik was a founding member of the Komitet Obrony Robotnikow (Committee for the Defense of Workers) in 1976 and a prominent activist during the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. He participated in the Round Table Talks of 1989, and was later elected to Poland's first non-communist parliament, where he served from 1989-1991. Michnik is the author of several books, including Letters from Prison and Other Essays (1987); The Church and the Left (1993); and Letters from Freedom: Post Cold War Realities and Perspectives (1998).
Aung San Suu Kyi is the 2012 Ion Raţiu Democracy Awardee. Suu Kyi, will be honored with the prestigious award at a symposium in Yangon, co-hosted by the Wilson Center’s Global Women’s Leadership Initiative on January 15-16, 2013.
“Aung San Suu Kyi’s lifelong dedication to the cause of democracy and the Burmese people makes her the perfect recipient of this year’s Ion Raţiu Democracy Award,” said Harman,president and director of the Wilson Center. “Daw Suu is a world icon who has shown that grace and non-violence are the most powerful weapons against oppression.”
Following 15 years of house arrest as a political prisoner of the junta at the forefront of the democracy movement in Burma, Suu Kyi now heads Myanmar’s main opposition party, the National League of Democracy. She is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the recipient of the United States Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi will receive the Ion Raţiu Award during a two-day symposium in Yangon, Myanmar titled...
Ceauşescu’s 1978 visit to London
Nicolae Ceausescu’s grandiose national public displays and overseas state visits are powerful identifying images of the face of communism in Romania. The discrepancy between the ridiculous lavish parades and the harshness of his policies at home still triggers amazement through an unforgiving historical eye. After refusing to take part, although a member of the Warsaw Pact, in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the western media began portraying Ceausescu as an anti-Soviet maverick. Many western governments went along with this illusion. It was the starting point for a long-lasting tour by the Romanian dictator to western states, sustaining the lie of a prosperous country in the eyes of an oblivious audience.
Florin Ungureanu offers us a detailed account of Ceausescu’s 1978 visit to London, transforming a historical chronicle into a new narrative on how political and econo...
This December 6th, 18.00 join us at the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences for the second “cineceapromis” and “Your Vote, Your Future, it matters” town hall meeting allowing citizens to interact with candidates in the parliamentary elections. The Senate candidates for Cluj- Napoca West and Cluj- Napoca East electoral colleges have minutes to introduce oneself and the program and three minutes to answer the three announced questions or others asked by participants.
The three questions are related to the candidates’ opinion on the distribution of electoral mandates, political migration and the withdrawal of immunity for prosecuted politicians. Citizens can address questions related to the candidates’ former activity as MPs (if they seek re-election), initiatives and accomplishments. Following the meeting all promises are uploaded on the cineceapromis.ro platform.
Join us December 4th, 17.00 at the CRD headquarters for the Turda Town Hall meeting, the second “cineceapromis” and “Your Vote, Your Future it matters!” meeting allowing citizens to discuss with candidates in the parliamentary elections. The meeting is focused on the Cluj West Senate candidates and follows a predetermined format: each candidate has three minutes to introduce oneself and the program and three minutes to answer the three announced questions and other asked by participants. The three questions are related to the candidates’ opinion on the distribution of electoral mandates, political migration and the withdrawal of immunity for prosecuted politicians. Citizens can address questions related to the candidates’ former activity as MPs (if they seek re-election), initiatives and accomplishments.
Meetings are moderated to encourage and ensure the discussion remains between citizens and candidates, not between the candidates themselves. Following the meeting all promises are uploaded on the cineceapromis.ro platform.
Cineceapromis is funded, in part, through a U.S. Embassy Bucharest grant. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State.
TOMOYUKI HASHIMOTO
(Linacre College, Oxford University)
Why is ‘Global Constitutionalism’ unfamiliar and suspicious to political scientists in Europe? (Lecture in English)
November 22nd, 18.00
Institutul de Cercetări Europene
Em. de Martonne street, no. 1 Cluj-Napoca
Tomoyuki Hashimoto (Ph.D.c, Oxford University) is a graduate of International Relations (Boston University), Comparative Politics (London School of Economics and Political Science) and International Law (Erasmus University, Rotterdam), currently PHD student at Oxford University, working on the thesis „Dismantling «irrationality» of Geo-economic Thinking in Central and Eastern Europe” at Oxford University. A specialist in Central and Eastern Europe, Tomoyuki Hashimoto has held academic positions in the universities of Boston, Tallinn, Tartu, Tirana and Warsaw.
TALOS is a political and social theory seminar that encourages debates amongst specialists with the purpose of creating partnerships between the de...
Join us this November 15th, 14.00 at Palatul Cultural Ionel Floaşiu in Câmpia Turzii for the ATIR
theatrical performance “The Snow Queen”, written by H.C.Andersen and directed by Cornel Miron.
The performance opens this year’s “Give to your neighbor” philanthropy campaign, aimed at helping children, seniors and families in need from the greater Turda area.
Last year we reached almost 2000 persons, this year we plan to return to those locations as well as reach others. We invite all community members to support this initiative by making donations in cash, in kind or acting as volunteers throughout the campaign.
Join us for the third edition of “British Documentary” starting 10 November, a project aiming to present the Romanian audience with the best of contemporary British documentaries, awarded or nominated at the Grierson Film Festival in the UK in 2011. The screenings are scheduled to take place throughout November, at 7.00 p.m. during weekdays and at 6.00 p.m. on Saturdays, at Casino – Urban Culture Centre, in Cluj-Napoca Central Park.
”British Documentary” is organised in partnership with the British Council, Casa TIFF, Casino – Urban Culture Centre, Visit Cluj, Cluj-Napoca City Hall, Tailors’ Tower and supported by Radio Guerrilla.
The themes of the ten documentaries cover a wide range of subjects: from media manipulation and propaganda to the responsibility and urgency of medical decisions, the traffick with human tissues, the effects of extreme poverty, drug addiction, Islamic extremism, the structuring effects of statistics and also arts – two of the films are de...
(Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, CEU)
Tuesday, November 6th , 18.00 - Lecture in Romanian
Sala Robert Schuman - E. de Martonne street, no. 1
Partners: CESPRI, Department of Philosophy in Hungarian, Department of International Relations and American Studies of Babeș-Bolyai University
Gaspar Miklos Tamas (b. Cluj, 1948) graduated classical philology and philosophy in Bucharest and Cluj and from 1972 worked as an editor in Cluj –Napoca.. Blacklisted as a dissident, he left for Hungary in 1978 where he taught philosophy at the University of Budapest until fired in 1981 for illegal protests and clandestine writings. Director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1991, he taught and researched in leading universities (Columbia, Oxford, Woodrow Wilson Center, Chicago, Wissenschaftskolleg din Berlin, Georgetown, Yale, New School for Social Research, Collegium Budapest, ..), published numerous articles, studies and essays. His work is translated in 14 languages.
8 of the students from Colegiul Emil Negruțiu Turda, who have implemented during the summer the prevention campaign in Eforie Sud, continued to speak to their fellow students about risk factors associated with trafficking in persons. They use a survey to see the protection factor of each of the persons they speak to and provide them with tailored advice.
Out of the 186 surveyed 2 were found extremely vulnerable to trafficking in persons, 172 have basic knowledge about the danger of human trafficking and 12 are aware of the risks and capable of making the right decisions.
Join us Thursdays, 19.00 at Casa Tiff in Cluj Napoca for the screening of a series of four documentaries on the expression of individual freedom under the communist regime in Poland. The event is organized together with the Polish Institute in Bucharest, Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw and Casa Tiff.
Art of Freedom tells the stories of the most difficult Polish expeditions and their most spectacular ascents at the very cusp of socialism when the average pay was 20 dollars a month. The documentary explores what distinguished the Polish climbers from other teams and in what way the privation they experienced daily influenced their condition and morale.
Political Dress takes a look at Poland's style evolution, sharing the experiences of those who were singled out as ideological 'saboteurs' by the authorities- from the time when colorful socks could get you reprimanded by the militia, to the fascination wit...
Together with K.V.Company , Hungary and “Sala Mică” Theater, “Ion Ratiu” Theater Workhop invites you Monday, October 29th starting 18.00 and 20.00 to the Romanian premier of Gardenia. Written by Elzbiéta Chowaniec and directed by Réka Pelsőczy, the play is held at Sala Mică Theater, The Paintbrush Factory, Henri Barbusse street, no. 59-61.
Tuesday, October 30th, starting 18.00 and 20.00, Gardenia is scheduled to be played in Turda, at the Ratiu Center for Democracy headquarters, 1 Decembrie 1918 Square, no.1.
Gardénia is a family story, the drama of four generations of women living throughout the 20th century. All of the characters are in search of happiness; their dysfunctional relationships are exacerbated by unprocessed emotional traumas that resurface as the story reaches the present. The author, Elzbiéta Chowaniec, deals with the subject of women's alcoholism with humor, without romanticizing. This approach led the directress Réka Pelsőczy to innovatively envision the four characters as opera divas. The four monologues are set as arias, with "duets" and "terzettos" in between. Árpád Kákonyi composed music for piano, especially for Gardénia.
The contemporary Polish playwright Elzbiéta Chowaniec was born in 1982. She studied in the legendary National Film Academy in Lodz and furthered her education with Tadeusz Slobodzianek at the Drama Laboratory, where the Polish premier of Gardénia was held in 2007.
K.V. Company was formed by Krisztina Urbanovits and Zsuzsanna Száger in 2007. Their artistic goal - as women artists - is to enact contemporary authors dealing especially with the destiny and taboos of women.
Prof. Dr. Marius Jucan (DRISA, UBB)
Thursday, October 25th, 18.00 - Lecture in Romanian
Institutul de Cercetări Europene
E. de Martonne street, no. 1
partners: CESPRI, Department of International Relations and American Studies of the Faculty of European Studies
Drd. Anca Ifrim
Thursday, October 25th, 18.00 (Lecture in Romanian)
"Ion Raţiu" Room, Biblioteca Central Universitară "Lucian Blaga" Cluj-Napoca
Moderators: lect. univ. dr. Alina Branda & dr. Loredana Baba
Since 2008, on October 18th, the European Anti-Trafficking Day, we encourage solidarity within communities through public action. În 2012 31 Romanian communities and 13 from Europe and the US joined our campaign, 6160 persons from Romania took 4 minutes to start the fight against human trafficking.
Following October 18th, we plan to use october18.notforsale.ro to promote preventing trafficking resources and activities; continue working with local partners to offer support for survivors; continue to develop tailored tools and activities for groups and individuals at risk and strengthen our capacity to collaborate with organizations and institutions at local and national level in order to improve our work in prevention and assisting survivors.
Join us October 18th, 16.00 in Aula Ferdinand of the History and Philosophy Faculty in Cluj, Napoca street, no.11 for the lecture “Cooperation of sub-national and private actors for increasing their influence at national and EU level” held by Alessandro Battilocchio. At the end of the lecture, A. Battilocchio, former member of the European Parliament (2004-2009) and mayor of Tolfa, Italy (2001 – 2011), is also scheduled to have a q&a session with representatives of the not-for-profit sector on “ How to get successful in Brussels”.
Part of the Jean Monnet Multilevel Governance in the European Union Module, the lecture is organized by Altiero Spinelli Centre for the Study of European Governance, the Department of International Studies and the Faculty of History and Philosophy Cluj Napoca in partnership with the CRD and sEus Club.
Dear Sir or Madame,
We invite you to join, as local partner, the advocacy campaign in support of a new project in favor of the non-profit community called “Supporting Romanian Philanthropy through Individual Donation”. This project directly impacts not for profit organizations, as these base most of their daily activities on the financial support of companies or individual donors.
The project improves the existing legal framework by offering to the citizens and companies from Romania the possibility to support the social and civic causes as it happens in other European countries. The only system in place to encourage Romanians to donate is the 2% mechanism – where they can redirect 2% of the annual income tax toward a charity or religion of choice. We propose a new mechanism that would complement 2%. These measures, according to our estimates, would attract annually about 540 million lei with an investment from the State of only 100 million lei. For every leu the State would contribute with by supporting the taxes for donated sums, another 5 lei would come from the donor directly.
The project is initiated by United Way Romania with the financial support of the CEE Trust and implemented together with Asociatia pentru Relatii Comunitare, Centrul de Resurse pentru Participare Publica, Fundatia pentru Dezvoltarea Societatii Civile and the Soros Foundation, members of the Coalition for Supporting Philanthropy.
The initiative advocates for changes to the current legal framework regarding individual and corporate donations. At present, individual donors may direct 2% of their taxes and/or 5% of their independent income (other than salary) to non-profit organizations. Companies may deduct up to 0.3% of their turnover. We propose a set of tax deductions that include:
1. Allowing the donors to deduct their donations from all their income, not just independent activities, up to 5% of the donor’s annual income.
The two mechanisms imply:
a) Employers to be allowed to deduct payroll donations for the employees, based on an employer-employee-charity contract signed for at least a year.
b) Tax authorities to deduct donations from the annual income, based on the donor’s request and proof.
2. Stimulating large donations – sums over 100 minimum wages (currently that means 15,700 EUR) – by deducting them up to 10% of the donor’s income.
3. Increasing the deduction limit from 0.3% to 0.6% for companies.
This would increase the number of companies willing to make donations and the sums donated.
During the course of the project, CRD, together with Coalition members and local partner support, will organize five round-table discussions in Cluj-Napoca, Gherla, Dej, Turda and Campia Turzii. Local politicians, representatives from the area’s non- profit community as well as entrepreneurs are invited to come and share their opinions on this topic.
Graţiela Angheluş,
Ratiu Center for Democracy
The current, embarrassing struggle between our leading politicians is a reminder that such negative behaviour is, sadly, an old, old story among us Romanians. This week's call by Adevarul's editors for our politicians to end their self-defeating, irresponsible skirmishing is refreshing and welcome. Here, in support of Adevarul's editors' own call to reason on all sides, are Ion Raţiu's own “10 Commandments for Romanians everywhere” issued to Romanians all over the world as they converged on Geneva for the first international UMRL Convention in 1984. It is still, we think, a most timely call to national unity, to respect for one another, and for our state institutions. We find his 10th Commandment particularly poignant at this time: “Do something good for your country of origin and for your fellow countrymen. No matter how small or insignificant. But do it, every day.”
Indrei & Nicolae Raţiu
Ion Raţiu's “10 Commandments for Romanians everywhere” (Geneva, 1984)
1. Be proud to be Romanian. Never miss an opportunity to say so. We are an ancient, noble people. Civilization is deeply rooted in our soil.
2. Express your love for your country whenever you can. Not out of chauvinism. But out of your desire to serve your fellow countrymen.
3. Defend the rights of all Romanians everywhere: not just the rights of Wallachians, Moldovans,Transylvanians, Bessarabians, those of the Banat or Timoc, Aromanians or Meglenites. Remember we are all Romanians.
4. Help your fellow-countrymen. However little you have, share it freely.
5. Support the institutions of the Romanian diaspora, no matter how insignificant or imperfect they may be.
6. Never criticize, even as a friend, any Romanian striving to defend or promote our nation's cause. Instead, do better yourself.
7. Don't criticize any Romanian engaged in our struggle, even "constructively". Make your deeds be your criticism. Seek instead to do more and better than your fellows.
8. Never forget that jealousy, envy and calumny are the last resort of the weak and the frustrated - of those who have lost all sense of belonging, either to country or society. Don't let such inferior sentiments rule you.
9. Oppose only those who govern in Bucharest because they trample on the wishes of the Romanian people. Any opposition to your fellow Romanian patriots is a waste of energy.
10. Do something good for your country of origin and for your fellow countrymen. No matter how small or insignificant. But do it, every day.
The Ion Ratiu Volunteer Center engaged in a stronger and more diverse cooperation with the Serviciul Public de Asistenta Sociala Turda with the purpose of recruiting more volunteers for other sections of this public institution. Our volunteers are already actively contributing to the Centrul de Zi and we plan to assist them in other social enquiries.
Our volunteers were actively engaged in the Theatrical Group’s activities this month by organizing a flash mob for women’s rights, as well as in the “Scoala altfel” project which they presented in local schools. The “Scoala altfel“ highlight event is scheduled on April 5 and aims to promote the local, historical heritage.
In data de 23 martie, Centrul de voluntariat a primit vizita colegilor voluntari din Cluj care au venit insotiti de reprezentanti ai grupurilor de tineret din Cehia, Germania, Franta, Italia si alte tari europene.
We are happy to report that the Ion Ratiu Theater Workshop doubled its volunteer numbers during March. All new comers were enrolled in an introductory workshop, whereas the advanced members have been rehearsing for a play- Jocul de-a joaca, an adaptation of Ion Baiesu’s “Experimentul” by Radu Botar. The play is scheduled during the events of our “Scoala altfel’ project.
Together with our Volunteer Center, a theatrical street performance was organized in the beginning of March focusing on women rights, equality of chances and equal pay for women. For the first time and in celebration of International Women’s Day, CRD theater troupe put on a show for the seniors at Centrul de Zi and Centrul de ingrijire la Domiciliu. The two organizations were our partners in the event. The actors were seniors who frequent Centrul de Zi and young members of TurdaTin Association. This type of performance celebrates the European Year for Active Aging and Solidarity between Generations and will be continued throughout 2012.
The project of acknowledging the community on the dangers and risks of human trafficking continued this month with 70 teenagers from Mihai Viteazu and Calarasi villages in Cluj County. The students learned to recognize the most vulnerable and generally targeted populations and were taught to identify the means of lowering the risks to themselves of becoming a victim.
Ratiu Center for Democracy was invited by the Basarabean Initiative Group to participate in the 9th edition of the Basarabia National Festival. Our members held a seminar on the prevention of human trafficking and, together with the Moldavian students, analyzed the different profiles of victims. With the knowledge gained, participants now have the means to implement prevention in order to protect themselves from such dangers.
As of March 22nd, voters can monitor candidate campaign promises for the 2012 local and parliamentary elections by accessing www.cineceapromis.ro. Content revealing various candidate promises will come from concerned citizens wanting to take a more active role in their government. Visitors to the website will be able to take part in discussions and monitor promises made both before and after candidates take office.
In every campaign, hundreds of promises are made most of which are unrealistic and exaggerated without a real connection to the community agenda or the party’s political plan. Soon after elections, these promises are forgotten by both candidates and voters. Cineceapromis.ro promises to be a place where voters and journalists confront their representatives in an effort to make them more accountable while staying engaged in the governing process.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars welcomes nominations for the 2012 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award. The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award (IRDA) is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas, ideals and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. The event expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide.
Ion Ratiu (1917-2000) was one of the most outspoken and consistent voices of opposition to Nicolae Ceausescu, whose regime he opposed for years from London as the democratically elected leader of the World Union of Free Romanians. After fifty years in exile he returned to his homeland in 1990 to contest the presidency, became a member of the Romanian Parliament, and later served as both Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies as well as Romania's roving ambassador to N...
One of the strongest voices of the Romanian exile, Ion Ratiu, returned to Romania to participate in the rebuilding of the Romanian society and submit his candidacy for the presidential elections. "The best president Romania never had", as he is often remembered in Romania today, represented his hometown constituency in the Parliament and was an important contributor to the building of a free Romanian press.
His legacy lives on through the numerous projects and programs the Ratiu Foundation supports and implements in Romania and abroad.
The United States is deeply concerned by continuing incidents of violence in Bahrain between police and demonstrators. Officials from the United States Embassy in Manama met today with human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who was injured during a demonstration on Friday; they also spoke with senior Bahraini government officials regarding the incident. While the facts surrounding the violence that transpired remain in dispute, we strongly urge the Government of Bahrain to undertake a full investigation to determine if excessive force was employed by police. In general we urge all demonstrators to refrain from acts of violence and for police and security forces also to avoid excessive use of force.
The Government of Bahrain has taken significant steps to implement recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, and we urge it to complete this important undertaking without delay and continue the work of comprehensive reform . We encourage all the citizens of Bahrain to join in this effort, which can be the foundation for genuine reconciliation and a renewed spirit of national unity.
