Reflections on selected aspects of human rights in Bangladesh

Sumaiya Khair is a Professor of Law at the University of Dhaka, where she served as Head of the Department of Law from 2009-2011. She has a PhD from the UK where she also studied as a Commonwealth Post-Doctoral Academic Fellow. Her research interest extends to a wide range of fields, such as, access to justice and legal empowerment, refugees and migration, governance and anti-corruption, labour standards, child rights, and gender issues. In addition to her academic engagement, she serves as Adviser, Executive Management, at Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). On the eve of 10th December World Human Rights Day, Emraan Azad from Law Desk talks to her about some of the contemporary human rights issues relating to Bangladesh.

Law Desk (LD): How do you assess the performance of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)? Is it exercising its statutory power to the extent it is expected to do so?

Sumaiya Khair (SK): I am afraid the NHRC may not have met the expectations of the people in terms of trust, credibility, and performance. Deficient in financial and human resources, it has been struggling to fulfil its mandate since its inception. Its apparent reluctance to intervene in alleged human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, by the police, military and specialised security forces on the ground of legal constraints not only compromises its image and credibility, but also contributes to the culture of impunity within which law enforcement and security forces operate. The Commission is also found to shy away from investigating politically sensitive incidents which involve human rights violations. These and other weaknesses essentially contradict the Paris Principles (pursuant to which the NHRC was established), which prescribe a set of standards for assessing the independence and effectiveness of national human rights institutes. The NHRC needs to be vigilant, vibrant and visible and work without fear or favour – only then it can regain the trust and respect of the people. 

LD: Does Bangladesh as a state have any international obligation to address the allegations of enforced disappearances? How? 

SK: Bangladesh has witnessed a rise in enforced disappearances, which constitute a cumulative violation of human rights. Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law for which states are obliged to hold perpetrators to account through proper investigation and prosecution. Although Bangladesh is not a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, it has obligations under other international instruments to which it is party, e.g., the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to protect rights which are also relevant to enforced disappearance, including the right to life, liberty, security and freedom from torture.

LD: What are some of the pertinent issues that you expect to be addressed in the upcoming state party (ICCPR) report of Bangladesh to the Human Rights Committee? 

SK: State party reports on ICCPR broadly cover the state of core civil and political rights in a given country.  I believe the Bangladesh report would be no exception. Some of the key issues which have been addressed before and may potentially be raised again include steps taken by the government to address – impunity in cases of extrajudicial killings; arbitrary arrests and detention; enforced disappearances; custodial torture; freedom of expression; and protection and repatriation of the Rohingya. Rights of women, children, persons with disabilities, and minorities always evoke special interest. More recently, the persecution of individuals based on their sexual orientation has raised serious concerns, and as such, may well form part of the discussion. The Committee might also want to see to what extent Bangladesh has been successful in implementing the Committee's earlier recommendations, as stated in its concluding observations issued to Bangladesh during its review.

LD: How do you evaluate the future of the Rohingya repatriation and the example Bangladesh could set with regard to the standards for voluntary and safe repatriation of refugees? 

SK: Any repatriation initiative must be preceded by a change in circumstances which had triggered the flight in the first place. The change must be fundamental, durable and effective. The core components of "voluntary repatriation" are return in safety and with dignity, without which the return may not be sustainable. To date we have not seen any shift in the political and security context of Myanmar which would indicate the restoration of conditions conducive to voluntary repatriation. Although Bangladesh is keen for the Rohingya to return safely, the future of repatriation initiatives is uncertain given the lack of political will on the part of Myanmar to recognise the Rohingya as its citizens and to take them back with full protection of their physical, legal and material integrity.

Bangladesh is not party to the Refugee Convention or its Protocol, but it has explicitly complied with the principle of non-refoulement by admitting the Rohingya into its territory. It can similarly set a good example by engaging with the Rohingya to prepare them for voluntary repatriation, keeping them informed about the status of repatriation efforts, and ensuring their representation in appropriate decision-making platforms. Until it is safe for them to return to their country, the voices of the Rohingya must be heard, supported and spread. Bangladesh has been persistently seeking international cooperation to reach a permanent solution to the Rohingya problem, but responses from global and regional powers have so far been inadequate. This essentially undermines and derogates from the burden-sharing principle. Bangladesh needs to break this inertia by continuing its talks with both the international community and Myanmar to find sustainable solutions to this prolonged problem. 

LD: As Bangladesh will be graduating to a developing country from the LDC soon, what sorts of human rights concerns do we have in the post-graduation period?

SK: In the fifty-one years since independence, Bangladesh has achieved many things for which it can be proud of. However, its performance in the context of good governance and human rights has not been so encouraging, primarily due to corruption, politicisation of key institutions of accountability, erosion in the rule of law, and slack regulatory control. These weaknesses find expression in key indices which assess a country's performance in selected thematic areas. For example, Bangladesh has ranked 127th out of 140 nations on the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2022, dropping by two points from last year. It has slipped ten notches in this year's World Press Freedom Index, ranking 162nd out of 180 countries. Bangladesh has ranked 147th out of 180 countries in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index, one position lower than in 2020. Great achievements demand greater responsibility – if Bangladesh wants to make a mark as a developing country, it has to enhance institutional capacity and ensure higher standards of application and enforcement of human rights and good governance.  

LD: Thank you.

SK: You are welcome.