A damning report card for the NHRC

An evaluation by the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) has given Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission the second-lowest score among its counterparts in South Asia. It reflects the frustrations of the human rights organisations of the country that have been, for years, trying to highlight the challenges that the commission faces in carrying out its mandate, which is to promote and protect human rights of the people. The primary challenge is a lack of autonomy because of the influence and control of the government, which significantly curtails its ability to investigate and act against state agents committing human rights violations.

The report, released on November 25, states that the NHRC suffers from a lack of transparency in the members' selection process and limitations regarding its ability to investigate allegations against law enforcement agencies and security officials. Even though the NHRC is independent by law, it is dependent on the government for its budget. The NHRC Act stipulates that the commission can investigate any matter at any time when the government fails to respond to its request for a report, but this has not happened till date. The government and its institutions, meanwhile, have often ignored the NHRC's requests and queries about human rights violations by state agents.

The deteriorating human rights situation in Bangladesh demonstrates the NHRC's lack of power and independence. Indiscriminate arrests of political activists and leaders of the opposition, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, surveillance of dissidents, and abuse of the (former) Digital Security Act to clamp down on freedom of expression have cast a dark shadow on our human rights situation, with the NHRC playing no role in addressing them. Human rights defenders allege that when the commission receives complaints from victims or victims' families, it informs the authorities, but rarely does it follow up on these cases to ensure that these complaints are addressed. Families of the victims of enforced disappearances and custodial torture have alleged that the NHRC did not respond to repeated letters and calls. Human rights defenders, too, have been subjected to unlawful surveillance, arrests and intimidation with no attempts from the commission to protect their rights as it is mandated to do.

If the NHRC cannot investigate allegations of abuses committed by law enforcement agents and if it cannot hold the government accountable, what is the point of having such a commission? The government, being a signatory to international conventions that guarantee human rights, is obligated to ensure that the NHRC is independent and empowered to do its jo