Right of residence; How a Persian Gulf state shrinks from duty towards its citizens

Tehran, IRNA – Any government has some responsibilities towards its citizens while it will even them more seriously in cases of emergency.

The outbreak of coronavirus has remarkably changed the rules governing the interactions between the governments and their citizens so that we are witnessing broad different types of excitedly, emotional, philanthropic, or selfish behaviors in social relationships.

Well aware that such a problem may occur in their own countries, some governments have chosen to help the countries affected with the virus. This is while some other governments believed they could build a wall around their borders to prevent the spread of the virus into their countries.

The way different countries acted to return their citizens from affected countries can be used as a good means to judge their responsible or irresponsible reaction to the phenomenon.

Many governments rushed to return their citizens from countries where the virus had spread. This was actually done within the framework of protective measures of the governments to save their citizens and prevent the spread of the virus into their countries. In addition, right of residence is an essential right of each citizen as it has been enshrined in many different international human right documents and treaties. The governments are obliged to facilitate the residence of their nationals in their home country.

As the epidemic first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the Iranian government stepped in rapidly to return its citizen, the students in particular, from the city because it feared the lives of the citizens and their families might be in danger.

It was not only Iran that rushed to help its citizens. Almost all other governments across the world, including many regional governments did the same.

With the beginning of the epidemic in Iran, different world countries cancelled flights to the country and returned their citizens to their home countries as soon as possible. Kuwait, for instance, returned some 1,000 citizens from Iran. So did the UAE, Qatar and Oman.

But the story was different for Bahraini citizens who were in Iran, mostly as religious tourists, when the epidemic broke out. The Bahraini government took an unconventional way in dealing with the issue, refusing to return its citizens.   

Because of the negligence of the Bahraini government, some 1,300 citizens of the country were forced to unwantedly remain in the northeastern Iranian holy city of Mashad. Although the Iranian government has done its best to render residential and healthcare services to the Bahraini citizens, five of whom have lost their lives over the past two weeks.  

With blame game and raising baseless allegations against Iran, the Bahraini government is acting so that incites the government's religious discrimination against a class of citizens.

The Omani government mediated to return some 165 Bahraini citizens from Iran but the Manama government stopped the scheme, raising unwise and ridiculous claims against Iran saying 77 of the passengers coming back to Bahrain were infected to coronavirus. They claimed that Iran had launched a biologic attack on Bahrain.  

It seems that Bahrain government need to put an end to its baseless claims and return its citizens from Iran as soon as possible since their stay in Iran will create problems both for Iran and for the Bahraini citizens themselves.