Improving human rights situation

Like every year, the United States published a report on April 8, released by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, on the human rights practice of 190 countries of the world including Bangladesh where the affairs of human rights, good governance and fair justice were highlighted. The United States expressed serious concern over failure to fully investigate extrajudicial killings by security forces, including several deaths in custody of alleged criminals detained by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The report noted that the security forces committed extrajudicial killings and were responsible for custodial deaths, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention. Some members of the security forces acted with impunity, prison conditions at times were life-threatening, lengthy pre-trial detention continued to be a problem, and authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights, the report said. This report is not positive from our country's point of view. It is true that the extrajudicial killings are continuing unabated. There are no effective measures from the government to stop these brutal killings. Rather, the law enforcement personnel are being encouraged by the ministers as they are claiming that no extrajudicial killings are taking place and the law and order situation is much better than it was before. About the judiciary, the report observed that an increasingly politicized judiciary has exacerbated problems in the already overwhelmed judicial system and constrained access to justice for members of opposition political parties. In the areas of freedom of speech and of the press, self-censorship continued and the security forces harassed journalists, the report said. The government curbed freedom of assembly, and politically motivated violence remained a problem. Official corruption and related impunity continued, the report noted. These kinds of events or actions, obviously, are not only a stumbling block for the rule of law but also obstacles for the political stability in the country. It is pertinent to say that the prime responsibility for any government is to remove these hindrances towards establishing the rule of law. Violation of human rights, specially extrajudicial killings, are a painful reality in Bangladesh. According to a national daily, deaths of a number of people, who had no previous criminal records, in RAB custody or during an alleged crossfire fuelled the concerns of and protest by people in general and human rights organisations in particular. In each case, relatives and neighbours of the victims alleged that the killing had been intentional and that influential people had used the RAB to further their own interests. It was also stated in a report of 'Odhikar', a local human rights organisation, that 281 people have fallen victim to extrajudicial killings since January 6, 2009 when the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office. The government really needs to pull in the reins of the RAB not only for the sake of establishing rule of law in the country but also to uphold the image of the nation internationally. Moreover, it was one of the most important pre-election pledges of the AL-led alliance to stop extrajudicial killings and improve the human rights situation in the country. Well, if that is done, then no one from outside can poke their nose into the human rights situation in our country. The writer can be reached at e-mail:mlutforr@ovi.com