Writ petition seeks refugee law

A Supreme Court lawyer yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking its directive on the government to formulate a specific law regarding the refugees taking shelter in Bangladesh.

Advocate Tanzim Al Islam submitted the petition saying that lakhs of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been living in Bangladesh since its independence and more than four lakh of them have recently taken shelter in the country. The government has given them shelter considering humanitarian aspects.

But there is no specific legal framework or policy for handling and controlling the refugees, he said in the petition filed as a public interest litigation.

The country is yet to sign the International Refugee Convention of 1951 and the International Refugee Protocol of 1967, and there is no rule regarding how the refugees will live in Bangladesh. Therefore, it is very difficult for the government to tackle the refugee crisis, he said in the petition.

Under Article 31 of the constitution, people living in Bangladesh for a temporary period along with its citizens are guaranteed to be protected by the law.

Therefore, a law needs to be formulated to deal with the refugees living in Bangladesh, he added.

Advocate Tanzim told The Daily Star that the HC is yet to fix any date for hearing the petition.