Law Event
Training on Refugee Law
Dr. Uttam Kumar Das
Bangladesh should accede the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and also need to adopt national legislation pertaining to refugee protection. Considering the geo-political situation of the country this should be done immediately. The recommendation came from a three-day training on Refugee Law held from September 30 to October 2, 2005 at the Proshika Human Resources Development Centre (HRDC) at Koitta, Manikganj. The program, first of its kind in the country was organized by Dhaka-based research and advocacy NGO, Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP) and was sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Dr. M. Shah Alam, Professor of Law, Chittagang University, Advocate Dr. Kazi Akter Hamid and Dr. Naim Ahmed of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Dr. Rahmat Ullah and Ms. Seema Zaman of Dhaka University, and Mr. Christopher Beng Cha Lee, Representative, UNHCR Bangladesh and the Dr. Uttam Kumar Das conducted different sessions of the training.
Total 31 participants attended the training, representing the judiciary, concerned Ministry, Bar associations, UN agencies, universities, Bangladesh Bar Council, media, research and human rights organizations.
In the certificate awarding and closing ceremony of the training on 2 October, Mr. Christopher Beng Cha Lee, UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh said that the human rights situation in the two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar is not acceptable to the international community. Referring to the international obligations of Bangladesh as a party to major international human rights instruments, Mr. Lee observed that the refugees here should be treated humanely as per norms of the international human rights standard.
Criticizing the role of a section of the government officials in the field who are in-charge of the administration and maintenance of law and order in camps, Mr. Lee said that the refugees should be allowed to rear chicken, doing vegetable gardening or play football in the camps among others.
The UNHCR Representative assured the participants to expand promotional activities on Refugee Law in Bangladesh. He also took note of the recommendation for introducing internship for law graduates with UNHCR in Bangladesh.
Professor M. Asaduzzaman , Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) who was the Chief Guest on the occasion, underlining the need for studying the growing subject like Refugee Law assured his all out cooperation to introduce this in different universities. He suggested the participating faculty members to take initiatives in this regard. He also urged for necessary logistic and materials support in this regard from UNHCR. He also felt the need of introducing Law as a general subject in the curriculum of graduate levels. This would help to aware the students on their legal rights and obligations, he observed.
The concluding session was also addressed by Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Executive Director of ELCOP and Coordinator of the training Dr. Rahmat Ullah. From the participants, Mr. Aktheruzzaman, Senior Assistant Judge of Comilla, Mr. Md. Hafijur Rahman Mollah, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, Advocate Mahbubul Alam of the Society of Justice, Advocate Dilruba Aftabi of Bangladesh Bar Council, Mr. Tofazzel Haque, Assistant Professor of Southeast University, and Mr. Porimol Palma of the Daily Star spoke on the occasion.
They unanimously appreciated ELCOP and UNHCR for arranging such a programme and recommended to continue this. They also suggested to expand the duration of the program to a week including a field trip and frequency so that other person those who are interested could attend the same.
The training aims at to train up a pool of human resources who could contribute progressively in the field of judiciary, education, policy, and human rights. This will be helpful for the young faculty members to introduce Refugee Law at their respective institutes. UNHCR Representative opined that if some one had human rights or refugee law in his or her course, then he or she would have a wide scope to have a job with the international organizations, and UN and humanitarian agencies as well.
UNHCR would be pleased to provide necessary material support in this regard, as the Representative mentioned.
As part of the promotional activities, the UN Refugee Agency has been conducting a short training on Refugee Law for lawyers in Dhaka and Cox's Bazar through the Bangladesh Bar Council for last eight years. So far, about 550 lawyers have been trained up. It has also initiated training program for journalists on refugees' rights and role of media.
Since last year, UNHCR Bangladesh has expanded its promotional activities on Refugee Law. The agency does provide supports in the form of developing curriculum and providing study materials to educational institutions that intent to introduce course on Refugee Law or on related issues.
So far, three universities in Dhaka have introduced Refugee Law at the graduate or under-graduate programs with support from UNHCR. UNHCR has been proving protection and assistance to the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh since 1992.
Being facilitated by UNHCR, so far, 236,618 refugees repatriated to Myanmar. Now, about 20,734 refugees are staying in two camps in Cox's Bazar with protection and assistance from UNHCR. However, the repatriation is on going.
In addition to that there are 159 mandate (urban) refugees in the country. They survive on UNHCR's assistance until having a durable solution. UNHCR's major implementing and operational partners in Bangladesh are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MFDM), Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the Civil Surgeon in Cox's Bazar under the Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health Engineering, World food Program, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Bangladesh Bar Council, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), ELCOP etc.
The writer is the National Protection Officer, UNHCR Bangladesh.
