FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-328-2008
December 30, 2008
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
BANGLADESH: New government must fulfill people’s expectations
After the two-year-long military controlled government, Bangladesh yesterday had the opportunity to elect its representatives to the country’s ninth parliament. According to the latest unofficial result, it is expected that the alliance led by the Bangladesh Awami League will win two-third majority in the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament). Election was held in 299 constituencies out of the 300 seats in the national parliament.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the people’s mandate and congratulates the citizens of Bangladesh in restoring their right to choose their representatives. The AHRC expects that the parliamentary process will further pave way for the much required democratisation and institutionalisation of the rule of law in Bangladesh. The democratic exercise could also be a window of opportunity to meet the public aspiration for the eradication of corruption from the country. Corruption is deep-rooted in Bangladesh that it has adversely affected the proper functioning and thus the credibility of even key national institutions like the judiciary, police and the parliament.
The AHRC recalls that the political parties in Bangladesh, including the Bangladesh Awami League, had claimed in their election manifesto that eradication of corruption is one of the priorities, once their government is formed. In the recent past, Bangladesh has witnessed shocking instances of human rights abuses committed by state agencies like the Armed Forces, the Rapid Action Battalion, police officers and other paramilitary units operating in the country.
So far the practice has been of providing impunity to the perpetrators of human rights abuses. National institutions like the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and its functioning is interfered by the armed forces and those controlling the army to prevent the court of being any deterrence for human rights abuses. Freedom of expression and association are curtailed considerably and instances of fabrication of charges against scribes and human rights activists is daily phenomena in the country.
Emergency regulations promulgated by an unconstitutional body like the current administration not only provide statutory impunity to the state agencies, but also smother voices of protest within the country. The failure of the governments, past and present, is illuminated by the appalling state of the standard of living in the country where an estimated 47 percent of the population lives in abject poverty.
The AHRC along with other civil society organisations and the people of the country expect that the newly elected Jatiya Sangsad will work without hesitation in fulfilling its constitutional promise to the nation and its people. The AHRC further demands that the national parliament must immediately:
1. repeal all the ordinances promulgated by the military-controlled government during the state of emergency that contradict international human rights norms and standards, particularly those relating to illegal arrest and arbitrary detention including restriction of bail;
2. remove all barriers that prevent the independent functioning of the judiciary, in particular by removing the executive control over the judiciary by the state;
3. strengthen the Judicial Service Commission by ensuring its independency and transparency;
4. take measures to establish an effective and independent prosecution department, particularly with fixity of tenure. The recently promulgated Public Attorney Service Ordinance, 2008 (Ordinance No. 55 of 2008) must not be ratified by the new parliament;
5. immediate measures must be taken to fasten accountability upon law enforcement officers, particularly the police- stop arrest and detentions for making money;
6. disband paramilitary forces like the Rapid Action Battalion, a repressive state agency with condemnable records of extrajudicial killing;
7. withdraw draconian laws like the Special Power Act, 1974, the Joint Drive Indemnity Act, 2003 and the Armed Police Battalions (Amendment) Act, 2003;
8. repeal Article 46 of the Constitution which has continuously been a source of executive misuse;
9. abolish extra-constitutional bodies like the Truth and Accountability Commission in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh;
10. establish an effective mechanism to eradicate corruption from the public institutions;
11. strengthen the National Human Rights Commission by expanding its jurisdiction to fasten enforceability of the Commission’s rulings;
12. criminalise the practice of custodial torture thereby confirming to the treaty obligation of Bangladesh since the ratification of the Convention against Torture.
