Ensuring rights and responsibilities of all citizens
Thursday, 11 November 2010
M S Siddiqui
THE rule of law hardly exists in Bangladesh as per the opinion of a former chairman of Human Rights Commission. The institutions like Human Rights and Anti-corruption commissions are not functioning properly. People are not aware of any activities of the Information or Consumers' commissions. The Ombudsman has not yet been appointed despite constitutional obligation. The accountability of administration does not exist in rule or practice.
The election process is more or less democratic but all power is vested to the Prime Minister. Political rights not only mean free elections but much more. In practice, there is no local government and the power and authority local government has are shared mostly by bureaucrats and partly by lawmakers. This is a violation of the Constitution.
The basic civil and political rights of individuals are the right to self- determination, the right to own, trade, and dispose of their property freely, and not to be deprived of their means of subsistence. The other rights are: the right to legal recourse when their rights have been violated, even if the violator was acting in an official capacity, the right to life, the right to liberty and freedom of movement, the right to equality before the law, the right to presumption of innocence till proven guilty, the right to appeal a conviction, the right to be recognised as a person before the law, the right to privacy and protection of that privacy by law, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association.
The basic economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals and nations, including the right to: self-determination, wages sufficient to support a minimum standard of living, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity for advancement, form trade unions, strike, paid or otherwise compensated maternity leave, free primary education, and accessible education at all levels, copyright, patent, trademark and protection for intellectual property.
The report of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) revealed the cost of 'buying' free government services is very high, which means corruption is an open secret. The World Bank and other agencies in their yearly reports say that the cost of doing business is higher in Bangladesh than in other countries.
A statement of the Universal Periodic Review Forum of Bangladesh, a coalition of 17 NGOs working for human rights, women's rights, labour and indigenous people's rights, forwarded a report of the Asian Human Rights Commission in June and urged Bangladesh government to ensure investigation of war crimes, extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, violence against women, and indigenous peoples, to repeal discriminatory laws, secure economic and social rights, including freedom from forced evictions, strengthen institutions for protection of human rights, and to implement CHT Peace Accord.
This document sets out the key concerns of the UPR Forum, and recommendations for action by the Government. There are regular reports of extra-judicial killing by RAB, police and other law enforcing agencies.
The UN Convention against Torture bans torture under all circumstances and establishes the UN Committee against Torture. In particular, it defines torture, requires states to take effective legal and other measures to prevent torture, declares that no state of emergency, other external threats, nor orders from a superior officer or authority may be invoked to justify torture. The custodial death is a common and regular phenomenon. The upper court in a directive declared zero tolerance to custodial death but there is no visible improvement. The high court has also given directives on remand of accused by police but the matter is pending in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against an appeal by the than government. There is apparently no remedy of torture.
The police use Section 54 of the penal code to arrest anybody if they 'feel' so and there is detention authority of police and local administration, if they feel necessary to put some one under detention for certain period.
The separation of Judiciary is still not completed since the appointment of judges, financial authority and other administrative control still remain with government. There is no judicial service secretariat yet. The laws and justice system are still backdated, the process is time consuming and expensive. The Legal Aid Act 2000 is an act in book only. There is less opportunity for fair trial of citizen particularly for majority of poor people. The logistic and other facilities of the judiciary in field level are very poor.
The major electronic media is under state-control and the private channels are under the control of politically motivated persons. The print media seems to have liberty to express their opinions.
The Right to Information Act 2009 has been passed and an Information Commission formed but the people are not aware of their privileges and officials are not prepared to accept the responsibility to disseminate the information. There is hardly any government department that has appointed any information officer assigned to the job.
The right to shelter for all and the right to education are far from reality and there is no significant step to implement these rights. There is financial constraint but positive steps must be taken in limited scale. Violence against women and children at home and workplace are very common. The existing discriminatory family laws deny women's equal rights within the family and to paternal property. The children are subjected to corporal punishment by teachers at school despite high court ruling against any such harsh measures. Government has not yet risen the age of children for criminal responsibility to 18 years.
Indigenous peoples are still struggling for their rights: There is no positive step to implement the peace accord with tribal people and there is no land dispute resolution commission and no action for relocation of plain-land people in the hill districts. The agreement to transfer some authority to the Hill Tract District Council is yet to be implemented and no steps have been taken to investigate or redress human rights violations in the CHT.
The workers rights are yet to be restored as understood from the recent violent agitations of garment workers and rejection of minimum wage declared at Tk 3,000 by some workers' unions. There is frequent fire in workplaces and no specific action has been taken to adopt a national occupational safety and health policy to date. The migrant workers are deprived of their agreed wages and denied human rights particularly in the Middle East countries. There are no effective legal protections for migrant workers, or to provide them with necessary information prior to their travel overseas or on return.
A law is under scrutiny to ensure rights of disabled people. There is no action to ensure facilities in workplaces or public transports etc for their smooth movement. The citizens are not aware of the special rights of the disabled.
The government has constitutional authority to temporarily suspend some of human rights through promulgation of emergency but human rights cannot be suspended for any reason.
In the backdrop of such report Bangladesh was re-elected to the Human Right Council (HRC) for a second term of three years in an uncontested elections at the UN General Assembly in 2009 following several new pledges to uphold HR in the country. This was despite the failure of the government since January 2009 to fulfill many of the pledges made during election.
Bangladesh will celebrate golden jubilee of independence in 2021. By then, the nation will hopefully become a middle-income country and the citizens more conscientious.
Let us evaluate the possibility of adopting in that year an act, titled, 'The Rights & Responsibilities Act 2021', to ensure rights and responsibilities of all citizens irrespective of status and position. There may be resistance from the privileged sections of the administration and difficult to promulgate it in 2021, the golden jubilee year of independence. But by then, the nation will hopefully become a middle-income country and the citizen more conscientious.
The proposed act may include: definition of human rights, give limit of public authority. The frequent violators of human rights shall have specific limit of desecration of authority. The law enforcement agencies, administrators and the political authority should have specific accountability under this law.
None should have protection or professional immunity for personal or organisational criminal offences and no protection against investigation under the proposed law.
The proposed law may include a human rights charter and the methods of application. The charter should recognise equality before the law, right to life and strictly protect citizens from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments. It should ensure freedom from forced labour and ensure freedom of movement.
The proposed law may ensure privacy and reputation, freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association, protection of families and children, taking part in public life, cultural rights, property rights, right to liberty and security of person, humane treatment when deprived of liberty.
The rights of children in the criminal process, fair hearing and special criminal proceedings should be guaranteed by the proposed act. It should give due attention to women, children, disabled and the poorest of the poor. The citizens will then have rights to go for remedies against any administrative order or verdict of lower court under this law, if the human rights are violated, or about to be violated.
There should be a regulatory commission comprising parliamentarians, equally from government and the opposition. They will report to the parliament regularly. The proposed commission should have authority to summon anyone for investigation with the authority to investigate and file case against anybody holding administrative or political office without permission from any authority.
The presidential authority of review of punishment or withdrawal of cases against citizens or re-investigation should be as per the recommendations of the proposed commission.
The Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, the civil society or any citizen of the country should have access to information to watch the activities of the proposed regulatory commission.
The proposed act should have supremacy over other acts and the existing laws inconsistent with it should be amended immediately.
The idea of such a law may seem utopian for Bangladesh but there are some countries which have similar laws. One of those countries is Australia.
The writer is a part-time teacher at Leading University. E-mail: shah@banglachemical.com
THE rule of law hardly exists in Bangladesh as per the opinion of a former chairman of Human Rights Commission. The institutions like Human Rights and Anti-corruption commissions are not functioning properly. People are not aware of any activities of the Information or Consumers' commissions. The Ombudsman has not yet been appointed despite constitutional obligation. The accountability of administration does not exist in rule or practice.
The election process is more or less democratic but all power is vested to the Prime Minister. Political rights not only mean free elections but much more. In practice, there is no local government and the power and authority local government has are shared mostly by bureaucrats and partly by lawmakers. This is a violation of the Constitution.
The basic civil and political rights of individuals are the right to self- determination, the right to own, trade, and dispose of their property freely, and not to be deprived of their means of subsistence. The other rights are: the right to legal recourse when their rights have been violated, even if the violator was acting in an official capacity, the right to life, the right to liberty and freedom of movement, the right to equality before the law, the right to presumption of innocence till proven guilty, the right to appeal a conviction, the right to be recognised as a person before the law, the right to privacy and protection of that privacy by law, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association.
The basic economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals and nations, including the right to: self-determination, wages sufficient to support a minimum standard of living, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity for advancement, form trade unions, strike, paid or otherwise compensated maternity leave, free primary education, and accessible education at all levels, copyright, patent, trademark and protection for intellectual property.
The report of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) revealed the cost of 'buying' free government services is very high, which means corruption is an open secret. The World Bank and other agencies in their yearly reports say that the cost of doing business is higher in Bangladesh than in other countries.
A statement of the Universal Periodic Review Forum of Bangladesh, a coalition of 17 NGOs working for human rights, women's rights, labour and indigenous people's rights, forwarded a report of the Asian Human Rights Commission in June and urged Bangladesh government to ensure investigation of war crimes, extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, violence against women, and indigenous peoples, to repeal discriminatory laws, secure economic and social rights, including freedom from forced evictions, strengthen institutions for protection of human rights, and to implement CHT Peace Accord.
This document sets out the key concerns of the UPR Forum, and recommendations for action by the Government. There are regular reports of extra-judicial killing by RAB, police and other law enforcing agencies.
The UN Convention against Torture bans torture under all circumstances and establishes the UN Committee against Torture. In particular, it defines torture, requires states to take effective legal and other measures to prevent torture, declares that no state of emergency, other external threats, nor orders from a superior officer or authority may be invoked to justify torture. The custodial death is a common and regular phenomenon. The upper court in a directive declared zero tolerance to custodial death but there is no visible improvement. The high court has also given directives on remand of accused by police but the matter is pending in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against an appeal by the than government. There is apparently no remedy of torture.
The police use Section 54 of the penal code to arrest anybody if they 'feel' so and there is detention authority of police and local administration, if they feel necessary to put some one under detention for certain period.
The separation of Judiciary is still not completed since the appointment of judges, financial authority and other administrative control still remain with government. There is no judicial service secretariat yet. The laws and justice system are still backdated, the process is time consuming and expensive. The Legal Aid Act 2000 is an act in book only. There is less opportunity for fair trial of citizen particularly for majority of poor people. The logistic and other facilities of the judiciary in field level are very poor.
The major electronic media is under state-control and the private channels are under the control of politically motivated persons. The print media seems to have liberty to express their opinions.
The Right to Information Act 2009 has been passed and an Information Commission formed but the people are not aware of their privileges and officials are not prepared to accept the responsibility to disseminate the information. There is hardly any government department that has appointed any information officer assigned to the job.
The right to shelter for all and the right to education are far from reality and there is no significant step to implement these rights. There is financial constraint but positive steps must be taken in limited scale. Violence against women and children at home and workplace are very common. The existing discriminatory family laws deny women's equal rights within the family and to paternal property. The children are subjected to corporal punishment by teachers at school despite high court ruling against any such harsh measures. Government has not yet risen the age of children for criminal responsibility to 18 years.
Indigenous peoples are still struggling for their rights: There is no positive step to implement the peace accord with tribal people and there is no land dispute resolution commission and no action for relocation of plain-land people in the hill districts. The agreement to transfer some authority to the Hill Tract District Council is yet to be implemented and no steps have been taken to investigate or redress human rights violations in the CHT.
The workers rights are yet to be restored as understood from the recent violent agitations of garment workers and rejection of minimum wage declared at Tk 3,000 by some workers' unions. There is frequent fire in workplaces and no specific action has been taken to adopt a national occupational safety and health policy to date. The migrant workers are deprived of their agreed wages and denied human rights particularly in the Middle East countries. There are no effective legal protections for migrant workers, or to provide them with necessary information prior to their travel overseas or on return.
A law is under scrutiny to ensure rights of disabled people. There is no action to ensure facilities in workplaces or public transports etc for their smooth movement. The citizens are not aware of the special rights of the disabled.
The government has constitutional authority to temporarily suspend some of human rights through promulgation of emergency but human rights cannot be suspended for any reason.
In the backdrop of such report Bangladesh was re-elected to the Human Right Council (HRC) for a second term of three years in an uncontested elections at the UN General Assembly in 2009 following several new pledges to uphold HR in the country. This was despite the failure of the government since January 2009 to fulfill many of the pledges made during election.
Bangladesh will celebrate golden jubilee of independence in 2021. By then, the nation will hopefully become a middle-income country and the citizens more conscientious.
Let us evaluate the possibility of adopting in that year an act, titled, 'The Rights & Responsibilities Act 2021', to ensure rights and responsibilities of all citizens irrespective of status and position. There may be resistance from the privileged sections of the administration and difficult to promulgate it in 2021, the golden jubilee year of independence. But by then, the nation will hopefully become a middle-income country and the citizen more conscientious.
The proposed act may include: definition of human rights, give limit of public authority. The frequent violators of human rights shall have specific limit of desecration of authority. The law enforcement agencies, administrators and the political authority should have specific accountability under this law.
None should have protection or professional immunity for personal or organisational criminal offences and no protection against investigation under the proposed law.
The proposed law may include a human rights charter and the methods of application. The charter should recognise equality before the law, right to life and strictly protect citizens from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments. It should ensure freedom from forced labour and ensure freedom of movement.
The proposed law may ensure privacy and reputation, freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association, protection of families and children, taking part in public life, cultural rights, property rights, right to liberty and security of person, humane treatment when deprived of liberty.
The rights of children in the criminal process, fair hearing and special criminal proceedings should be guaranteed by the proposed act. It should give due attention to women, children, disabled and the poorest of the poor. The citizens will then have rights to go for remedies against any administrative order or verdict of lower court under this law, if the human rights are violated, or about to be violated.
There should be a regulatory commission comprising parliamentarians, equally from government and the opposition. They will report to the parliament regularly. The proposed commission should have authority to summon anyone for investigation with the authority to investigate and file case against anybody holding administrative or political office without permission from any authority.
The presidential authority of review of punishment or withdrawal of cases against citizens or re-investigation should be as per the recommendations of the proposed commission.
The Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, the civil society or any citizen of the country should have access to information to watch the activities of the proposed regulatory commission.
The proposed act should have supremacy over other acts and the existing laws inconsistent with it should be amended immediately.
The idea of such a law may seem utopian for Bangladesh but there are some countries which have similar laws. One of those countries is Australia.
The writer is a part-time teacher at Leading University. E-mail: shah@banglachemical.com