Constituting human rights commission
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Syed Fattahul Alim
The incumbent government at a meeting of the Advisory Council with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair has finally given its seal of approval to the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance 2007. After the president's endorsement, the law will be circulated in the form of a gazette. The objective of forming the commission is to develop, protect and ensure human rights of the citizens. The three-member Commission will have a Chairman and two members. The ordinance does also have a provision to constitute a 6-member selection committee. The members of the committee will be pooled from different statutory bodies. Once constituted, the Commission will be able to receive complaints from different institutions and individuals as well as conduct probe into those. The Commission will also be able to carry out investigation into any case of its own volition.
The formation of the Commission is undoubtedly a big leap forward so far as a practical step is taken towards putting the motto of human right as recognised in the constitution into action. Can the man in the street then hope that the victims of human rights violation in the country would now have a place to seek redress against the injustices are being subjected to day in, day out?
But before one goes for addressing the exalted issue of human right, it is important to know what it consists in and how it is violated. In the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it has been recognised that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It further adds that the disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind. In the same breath the Declaration envisions the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.
And what would happen if the great ideals as enshrined in the Declaration are not observed by a state or the international community? The preamble of the sacred charter continues to say, '…it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.' So establishment of the rule of law is set as a precondition by the Declaration for the slogan of human right to carry any meaning.
Since the establishment of human right in a particular country is also hardly conceivable in isolation under the dispensation of an interconnected world, UN's universal declaration of human right invokes the related clauses of the United Nations Charter where promotion of friendly relations between nations has been considered as an essential precondition. The referred to clauses in the UN charter further note that 'the peoples of the United Nations have….reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.'
By framing the necessary legal basis towards constitution of a human right commission in the country, the incumbent government has only honoured the agreement the nation had covenanted at its birth with the global community of nations as a member of the UN. But fulfilling the formalities is one thing, while their materialisation in real life is another. The human right is a fundamental issue in the life of every human being on earth. Looking at the level of publicity on the subject on a global scale it may appear that the awareness about human right is a new development in human perception. Interestingly though, it is an issue as old as civilisation itself. Apart from the post-enlightenment discourse in Europe on the subject, especially in the wake of the democratic revolutions there, the core ideas of human right came again and again in the scriptures of the great religions. In that sense the treatment of the issue of human right predates that of the lofty ideas of post-French revolution discourse-equality, fraternity and brotherhood. Strangely though, it is exactly on this very old issue that human achievement so far has also been the least.
In the foregoing a question was raised if now the man in the street in Bangladesh would get redress once the human right commission is constituted. The discussion that followed including what has been stated in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has made it clear that the subject is neither simple nor is it achievable in isolation. Moreover, the scope of the issue is also all encompassing. For example, the existence of poverty, especially in its abject form is big inhibitive factor in the way of achieving success in establishing human right in the country.
If one looks at the present-day international scene, one would find reasons for being less than enthusiastic. The National Human Rights Commission Ordinance has been ratified by the government at a time when the need for a fresh awareness about the issue is being felt everywhere in the world more than ever before. With the fall of the Berlin wall, the expectation was rising globally that humanity was at last on the threshold of a new era of unbound freedom from the imperfect past. For the big propaganda networks of the democratic advanced North has all along been telling the rest of the world that whatever good the greatest minds in history had ever thought of and dedicated themselves to would be realised once their uncontested supremacy is acknowledged without question. The hope further heightened with the arrival of the new millennium and departure of the old. But with the crack of the new epoch's dawn, the dream turned out to be a chimera.
One needs only to give a quick look at the happenings all across the world. The wars are the worst case scenarios where violation of human right occurs most rampantly. Have the wars stopped altogether? Though large scale wars in which the entire humanity was divided into two large camps as it happened during the two great wars are not happening at the moment, smaller ones are raging across the globe. True there are some islands of peace like in some parts of Europe and in the north Americas, but in most other parts of the world it is a rarity. In Iraq of the Middle East, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in the frontier regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan and in the different countries of Africa, warfare has become the order of the day. Unfortunately though, the very advanced countries that champion the great cause of human right are involved, both directly and indirectly, in these wars. The war on terror is a case in point. This war being waged by the greatest power of the world, also purportedly the repository of freedom, democracy and human right, has turned out to be a source of human rights violation. The terrorists who know no frontier are killing people with gay abandon and theirs pursuers, too, are no respecters of human right either.
So, human right is now observed more in its violation than its adherence all over the world. In the circumstances, by taking the time-befitting step of constituting human right commission, Bangladesh, which is already riddled with more problems than it can handle, has now taken upon itself another big challenge. It is hoped in earnest that the nation would face up to it and live up to the expectation of the people.
The incumbent government at a meeting of the Advisory Council with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair has finally given its seal of approval to the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance 2007. After the president's endorsement, the law will be circulated in the form of a gazette. The objective of forming the commission is to develop, protect and ensure human rights of the citizens. The three-member Commission will have a Chairman and two members. The ordinance does also have a provision to constitute a 6-member selection committee. The members of the committee will be pooled from different statutory bodies. Once constituted, the Commission will be able to receive complaints from different institutions and individuals as well as conduct probe into those. The Commission will also be able to carry out investigation into any case of its own volition.
The formation of the Commission is undoubtedly a big leap forward so far as a practical step is taken towards putting the motto of human right as recognised in the constitution into action. Can the man in the street then hope that the victims of human rights violation in the country would now have a place to seek redress against the injustices are being subjected to day in, day out?
But before one goes for addressing the exalted issue of human right, it is important to know what it consists in and how it is violated. In the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it has been recognised that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It further adds that the disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind. In the same breath the Declaration envisions the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.
And what would happen if the great ideals as enshrined in the Declaration are not observed by a state or the international community? The preamble of the sacred charter continues to say, '…it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.' So establishment of the rule of law is set as a precondition by the Declaration for the slogan of human right to carry any meaning.
Since the establishment of human right in a particular country is also hardly conceivable in isolation under the dispensation of an interconnected world, UN's universal declaration of human right invokes the related clauses of the United Nations Charter where promotion of friendly relations between nations has been considered as an essential precondition. The referred to clauses in the UN charter further note that 'the peoples of the United Nations have….reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.'
By framing the necessary legal basis towards constitution of a human right commission in the country, the incumbent government has only honoured the agreement the nation had covenanted at its birth with the global community of nations as a member of the UN. But fulfilling the formalities is one thing, while their materialisation in real life is another. The human right is a fundamental issue in the life of every human being on earth. Looking at the level of publicity on the subject on a global scale it may appear that the awareness about human right is a new development in human perception. Interestingly though, it is an issue as old as civilisation itself. Apart from the post-enlightenment discourse in Europe on the subject, especially in the wake of the democratic revolutions there, the core ideas of human right came again and again in the scriptures of the great religions. In that sense the treatment of the issue of human right predates that of the lofty ideas of post-French revolution discourse-equality, fraternity and brotherhood. Strangely though, it is exactly on this very old issue that human achievement so far has also been the least.
In the foregoing a question was raised if now the man in the street in Bangladesh would get redress once the human right commission is constituted. The discussion that followed including what has been stated in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has made it clear that the subject is neither simple nor is it achievable in isolation. Moreover, the scope of the issue is also all encompassing. For example, the existence of poverty, especially in its abject form is big inhibitive factor in the way of achieving success in establishing human right in the country.
If one looks at the present-day international scene, one would find reasons for being less than enthusiastic. The National Human Rights Commission Ordinance has been ratified by the government at a time when the need for a fresh awareness about the issue is being felt everywhere in the world more than ever before. With the fall of the Berlin wall, the expectation was rising globally that humanity was at last on the threshold of a new era of unbound freedom from the imperfect past. For the big propaganda networks of the democratic advanced North has all along been telling the rest of the world that whatever good the greatest minds in history had ever thought of and dedicated themselves to would be realised once their uncontested supremacy is acknowledged without question. The hope further heightened with the arrival of the new millennium and departure of the old. But with the crack of the new epoch's dawn, the dream turned out to be a chimera.
One needs only to give a quick look at the happenings all across the world. The wars are the worst case scenarios where violation of human right occurs most rampantly. Have the wars stopped altogether? Though large scale wars in which the entire humanity was divided into two large camps as it happened during the two great wars are not happening at the moment, smaller ones are raging across the globe. True there are some islands of peace like in some parts of Europe and in the north Americas, but in most other parts of the world it is a rarity. In Iraq of the Middle East, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in the frontier regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan and in the different countries of Africa, warfare has become the order of the day. Unfortunately though, the very advanced countries that champion the great cause of human right are involved, both directly and indirectly, in these wars. The war on terror is a case in point. This war being waged by the greatest power of the world, also purportedly the repository of freedom, democracy and human right, has turned out to be a source of human rights violation. The terrorists who know no frontier are killing people with gay abandon and theirs pursuers, too, are no respecters of human right either.
So, human right is now observed more in its violation than its adherence all over the world. In the circumstances, by taking the time-befitting step of constituting human right commission, Bangladesh, which is already riddled with more problems than it can handle, has now taken upon itself another big challenge. It is hoped in earnest that the nation would face up to it and live up to the expectation of the people.