In what is being regarded by civil society figures in Bangladesh as a momentous decision, on Thursday the Bangladesh parliament passed a key ordinance reactivating its hitherto nascent National Human Rights Commission. Critically, the Commission will have far reaching powers that will not exempt the armed forces and the police from scrutiny.
The Human Rights Commission, currently chaired by Amirul Chowdhury, formerly a Justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court's Appellate Bench, was originally convened in 2007 by the then caretaker government. All ordinances passed by such a government are, by definition, interim and have to be re-ratified by parliament. It had been expected, subsequent to the expiration of the National Human Rights ordinance on 25 February, that it would be immediately re-activated during Parliament's first session in 2009. The fact that this did not occur led many commentators to speculate that the newly elected Awami League intended to indefinitely delay the activation of the Commission or, at best, pass a law that left the NHRC effectively powerless.
But the bill, proposed by Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, carried additional provisions that enable the Commission to investigate human rights violations carried out by the country's armed forces and police. It is vested with the necessary judicial powers so that damages can be redressed. Perhaps most significantly, either in response to a petition or at its own discretion, it can request reports from the government regarding the activities of the Bangladeshi security forces. The Commission will also have a regional presence, with district chapters that can receive allegations, conduct preliminary investigations and commission trials.
Bangladesh passes War Crimes law as Human Rights Watch urges caution
On Wednesday, the Law Minister Shafique Ahmed introduced a key piece of legislation to the parliament that will pave the way for war crimes trials of those suspected of collaborating with the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's 1971 independence struggle. The International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Act 2009 is an updated version of an act passed in 1973 to try war criminals.
One of the key amendments has been to include pro-Pakistan militias such as the Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams as "associate forces", leaving their former members open to trial. All three of these groups were raised and equipped by the Pakistan army to support their operations against Bengali nationalist forces. Former members include influential figures in Bangladesh, such as Ghulam Azam and former Agriculture Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami. Nizami succeeded Azam as head of Jamaat-i-Islam, the prominent Islamist opposition party, a position which he still holds today.
There is every sign that the government is keen to push though this law as quickly as possible. Having been introduced to parliament on Wednesday, it was sent for scrutiny by the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Ministry of Law immediately. Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament, Abdul Hamid, requested that the committee complete its work overnight, submitting its report to the Secretariat by noon on Friday for consideration of MPs on 4pm Thursday. The law has subsequently been passed by the Parliament.
Human Rights Watch, in a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina published on its website, has urged that the final ordinance be a substantially revised version of the original 1973 Act. Noting that justice for the crimes committed in 1971 was overdue, the letter nonetheless urged that the law conform to modern international human rights law. Observing that there had been substantial progress in international law for the trying of war criminals, most notably the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998, Brad Adams, Executive Director for HRW's Asia Division, said that if Bangladesh's trials did not take place in line with these recent developments, they would lack credibility.
PM calls for Opposition Parties to end boycotts
In her concluding remarks at the end of the second Parliamentary session to be held in the current tenure of the Awami League government, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on opposition parties to rejoin the political process and return to Parliament. Opposition parties BNP, Jamaat-i-Islam and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party walked out of Parliament during its first session in the wake of BNP leader Khaleda Zia's eviction from her cantonment housing and a dispute in parliament itself over seating arrangements. In her speech on Thursday, Sheikh Hasina said that the opposition parties must return as they were sent to Parliament by the people's mandate, and they must respect this. Terming their absence ‘illogical' she said that ‘we must bring democracy to the fore.'