Proposal to amend NHRC Act still 'stuck': Chairman

The proposal submitted to the government by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to amend the NHRC Act has been "stuck", said its Chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed today.

He said this while replying to queries from journalists at a press meet organised by NHRC and UNDP at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

The founding law of the organisation, National Human Rights Commission Act (NHRC)-2009, restricts the commission from investigating any disciplined forces, including the police and Rab.

"A proposal was sent in 2021 by the previous commission, asking for an amendment that would allow the NHRC to investigate police for rights violations. When this commission took over, we felt that there was scope for more amendments than what was sought. So, we had submitted another proposal," Kamal said.

The current NHRC chief took over the post in December 2022.

This legal shortcoming has been one of the reasons why Bangladesh's NHRC is considered a "Category B" organisation by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).

All the national human rights institutions of the world are assessed by GANHRI on how compliant they are with the Paris Principles, which are the international benchmark for national human rights institutions.

Category A is given to institutions which are fully compliant.

"Nevertheless, we have the capability to demand accountability. For example, when one law enforcement agency is being accused of violating human rights, we can ask another to investigate them," he said.

Lacking the mandate to investigate law enforcers themselves, NHRC writes to the government demanding explanations.

In the past months, the NHRC has written to the home ministry seeking explanations in four instances of custodial torture, one case of extortion by police, and another case of abuse of a prisoner in jail.

In all these incidents, the rights body conducted suo motu (voluntary) interventions.

The NHRC chief pointed out that rights violation of women and children suffer from underreporting in the media.

Shyamal Dutta, general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club, Anowarul Haq, assistant resident representative of UNDP, and journalist Syed Borhan Kabir, also spoke at the event.