The imperative of human rights commission

It has been authoritatively announced that in Bangladesh we will soon witness the formation of a Human Rights Commission. In fact, such positive intent could not have been made public at a better time. The current healthy spate of reform initiatives will, hopefully, have another facilitating institution for ensuring good governance.
There is no denying that all citizens in democratic countries have to understand the phenomenon of human aspirations for freedom from arbitrary power, for the exercise of civil liberties, and the acquisition of human rights. The principle of the rule of law has since been developed in many countries of the free world.
The enforcement officials, however, have to understand that the principle of rule of law rules out arbitrary conduct on their own part. They have to appreciate that if laws are not enforced in as humane a manner as possible then that would result in a denial of human rights.
The international dimension of human rights began to emerge in late 18th century. However, since the end of the Second World War, we have witnessed the most exacting and flagrant denials of human rights, and also the consequent major pressure for internationalisation of those rights.
A significant part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights refers to civil and political rights, which include the right to life, liberty, security of person; freedom from torture and slavery; political participation; rights to property and marriage, and the fundamental freedoms of opinion, expression, thought, conscience and religion; and freedom of association and assembly.
While efforts at protecting human rights at the universal level are extremely important, it is within the national framework that we have to set the highest ethical standards by providing, amongst others, an apex-level machinery for their protection. The aim should be to take further steps for the effective recognition and observance of human rights.
The moving spirit behind the creation of our proposed Human Rights Commission should be our devotion to the spiritual and moral values that are the common heritage of our people, and also the true source of individual freedom, political liberty and the rule of law. It should embody the principles which form the basis of all genuine democracy.
The Human Rights Commission should aim at taking steps for the collective enforcement of some rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It may deal principally with civil and political rights. For guaranteeing the enforcement of such rights, we may have to examine the constitution of the Court of Human Rights.
The proposed commission may receive petitions from any person, non-governmental organization, or a group of individuals, claiming to be the victim of a violation of the rights set forth. The commission, if it admits a petition, may try to settle the dispute. In case of failure, it may draft a full report including an opinion as to whether or not there has been a violation of rights in the case under consideration. The commission's proceedings should be confidential. The case may also be referred to the proposed Court of Human Rights for a decision within a statutorily fixed period.
The proceedings before the proposed Court of Human Rights are to be held in public. The individual petitioner shall have opportunity of presenting his case to the Court. The decision of the Court should be binding on the government. Such a Court should be empowered to award monetary compensation to the injured party.
The existing penal law is undoubtedly important when dealing with the subject of human rights, since it is through such laws that human rights will primarily be guaranteed or disregarded. However, the proposed commission has to ensure that the government of the day cannot take recourse to the plea of "exigencies of the situation." In other words, the government cannot be allowed to fail to respect the right to life, freedom from torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
The teaching of human rights at all levels of education and training has to be of paramount importance. The education and training of enforcement officials to understand and employ the principles of human rights has to be a matter of priority. Such officials can help the government to secure the aims of human rights legislation and practice. The police have to be considered an important and primary target in this regard.
In Bangladesh, we have experienced the promulgation of laws that give the authority wide powers to deny human rights, in some cases even the most basic civil liberties. The authority, in such a scenario, has a greater probability of being corrupted and, through degeneration, indulging in arbitrary conduct including torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
We have to remember that authority can be abused in democracies. The power-wielders can become more the master and less the servant. It can snuff out more freedom than it protects. The main problem lies in control.
At times, rightly or wrongly, broad sections of the population lend direct or indirect support to wrongful enforcement practices, as has happened in Bangladesh. Such support has stemmed from a belief that, in spite of the excesses, the authority is carrying out a necessary and unpleasant task for the preservation and protection of state and society. Such a frame of mind places considerable moral burden on a democratic polity. Our proposed Human Rights Commission has to be proactive in forestalling such pernicious drifts.
From rebellion to simple theft, there are requirements for laws and for some form of enforcement of those laws. The legal instruments of enforcement in most states are the police and the judicial processes. In creating such instruments free societies have to take great care.
A democratic free society has to ensure that the system created to protect itself does not become the instrument of its bondage, that the manner of its control and the nature of its work ensure that in containing crime and disorder it does not take away those basic freedoms enshrined in the national law, the United Nations declaration and other instruments. The authorities have to be seen to be carrying out their function within the law, to which they themselves are subject.
In the best of regulated democratic systems, aberrations will emerge from to time, but the correct standards have to be maintained by the imposition of disciplinary measures. Hope lies in the securing of the balancing of human rights with adequate control of excessive human misbehaviour. The proposed Human Rights Commission may be able to start doing the needful.
Muhammad Nurul Huda is a DS columnist