13 Asian Countries: Bangladesh’s NHRC 2nd worst
National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh (NHRCB) scored second-lowest among all the national human rights protection institutions in South Asia, according to an index.
The evaluation, prepared by the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), was released yesterday.
The countries included in this year's report are the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Among them, India scored the lowest.
Some of the categories the national human rights institutions of the different countries were evaluated on included their independence, their budget and operational autonomy, their powers and mandate, and how well they investigate, monitor, and protect stakeholders.
"Bangladesh and India are struggling to fulfil their mandate of holding their respective governments accountable when it comes to the protection of human rights," said the report.
"There is a lack of transparency in the members' selection process, a lack of complete freedom in financial matters, and a limited mandate in matters of investigating allegations against law enforcement agencies and security officials," it stated.
It said the NHRC is legally independent but is directly dependent on the government and other agencies for its budget.
"According to Section 17(2) of the NHRC Act, the Commission has the right to investigate any matter at any time when the government fails to respond to its request for a report. However, the Commission continues to disregard exercising its existing mandate to the fullest extent," it stated.
The report pointed out that while the NHRC can only seek reports from the government regarding abuses perpetrated by law enforcement, it can also legally investigate if the government fails to report back, but the institution has never done this.
"As per Section 18(2) of the NHRC Act, government authorities are required to respond to the queries and recommendations that the NHRCB makes. However, in reality, the government and the authorities do not abide by this and often ignore the NHRCB's requests.
For example, for months, Cox's Bazar district administration has been delaying sending in a report to the NHRCB on the killing of the Teknaf Municipality Councillor, Ekramul Haque, in an alleged gunfight with the Rab in April 2018, according to the report.
"After 13 years, the Commission sent a draft proposal to the Law Ministry in February 2021 seeking an amendment to the NHRC Act, 2009, which proposes excluding the police from the definition of 'disciplinary force'. The Law Ministry scheduled a meeting to discuss the NHRC Act amendment but is yet to make a decision," pointed out the report.
"The NHRCB has the authority to proceed to the court to get redress for the infringements of human rights on behalf of victims," it said. "However, there is no record of lodging any case or petition filed by the NHRCB during this reporting period."
The report recommended that the NHRC reduce the number of government representatives in the selection committee of the Commission and set up an independent secretariat to ensure independence.
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