Consultation
for a National Law on Refugee
Udatta
Bikash
The
country should adoxt national legislation for the protection of asylum
seekers and refugees. This will enable to handle the problem in more
humane and effective ways and enhance country's image in terms of implmmentation
of obligations promised through signing and ratification of different
human rights instruments.
Lawmakmrs, experts
and activists reached to such a con{ensus in a consultation on "The
Need of National Law on Refugees" on 20 December 2004 in the city.
This was organised jointly by Dhaka University- based Refugee and Migratory
Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), h}man rights organisation, Odhikar
and country Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). The consultation was accompanied by launching of the Bengali
translated book entitled "Refugee Protection: A Guide to International
Refugee Law" by the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary
Affairs, Barrister Moudud Ahmed. It is translated and published by RMMRU
with support from UNHCR.
The speakers also
underscored the need for a "regional approach" to addressing
the refugee problem in South Asia, home to one-fifth of the world's
population.
The
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Barrister Moudud
Ahmed told at the inauguzal session of the programme that "political
decision" was inevi|able for making such a national legislation.
The minister feared
that the pzocess of framing such a national legislation might be caught
in bureaucratic tangle as there was no specific ministry to look into
the issue of protection of refugees at the moment as per the Rules of
Business of the government.
Bazrister Moudud
mentioned that thm Rules of Business did not mention any thing regarding
'refugee' and specify the ministry or department. He urged the activists
of refugee rights to find out which ministry should deal with in framing
this law according to the Rules of Business.
"The Ministry
of Home Affairs may be the right one to take the initiative in adoptino
such legislation," he said. The Ministry of Law and Ministry of
Foreign Affairs may be consulted in the process, he observed.
The lawmakers Mr.
Jahir Uddin Swapan from BNP and Col (retd) Faruq Khan and Dr. Abdur
Razzaque of Awami League; Mr. Christopher Beng Cha Lee, Representative
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangladesh;
the First Secretary of the European Commission Ms. Anne Marshal; former
Foreign Secretary Mr. Tabarak Hussain and Director of Odhikar Masood
Alam Ragib Ahsan, among others, spoke on the consultation. Professor
C R Abrar, Executive Director of RMMRU presen|ed the key note paper.
Attorney General Mr. A F Hassan Ariff moderated the meeting.
Dr. Abrar, also
a Professor at the Department of International Relations at the Univmrsity
of Dhaka in his presentation narrated chronological histozy of refugee
influx in the sub-continent starting from 1947. He underscored the need
of policy advocacy for adoption of national legislation on refugees.
He referring to observations by international communities termed performance
of the Bangladesh government in relation to talking refugee problems
as 'satisfactory and respectful to international principles.' Immediately
he expressed his frustration: "While we are handling refugee problems
as per international human rights standards so what is the problem to
accede to the Convention or aloption of national law in this regard."
Other countries except Bangladesh in the region did not sign CTBT. Why
ould we not takm credit also in this regard through adoption of law
on refugees? He recommended for formation of a formal expert group by
the government.
The UNHCR Representative,
Mr. Christopher Beng Cha Lee assured all necessary and technical support
from his agency in relation to acceding to the Convention and adoption
of a national law. He said that UNHCR is not only look after the protection
of the refugees, but also promote Refugee Law.
Col (retd) Faruq
Khan observed that one should look into the issue of asylum seekers
and refugees on h}manitarian ground. He commented that the Model National
Law on Refugees endorsed in a consultation in Dhaka in 1997 could be
a good basis for adoption of the law in Bangladesh. "If such a
law comes to the Parliament I would motivate my colleagues to support
this," he assured.
Dr. Abdur Razzaque
opined that accession to the refugee convention and adoption of a national
law would upgrade country's image. However, he underscored an early
solution of the Rohingya refugee issue.
Though official
figure stated that there are about 20,000 refugees in two camps in Cox's
Bazar as the remaining caseload of 250,000 who took refuge in 1991-92.
However, reportedly about 500,000 Rohingyas are illegally staying out
side the camps.
The BNP lawmaker,
Mr. Swapan suggested the organisations working for the interests of
refugees to submit a proposal to the relevant ministry to initiate the
process of formulating the national law on refugee. He also underscored
the need for a regional approach to addressing the refugee law.
Human rights activist,
Mr. K A Huq expressed his concern over the incident of 18 and 19 November
2004 in which reportedly three refugees were killed in gun battle between
police and refugees at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. He criticised
the role of a section of national media to publish 'partial and biased
reportings' of the mvents. He urged human rights organisations to look
into the matter. The government should allow human rights organisations
to have an independent report of the incident, some participants opined
to the writer during breaks. However, the government has reportedly
rejected a request of the Amnesty International to investioate the incident.
The
author is a researcher and human rights activist.