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Overpowering the law enforcing agency and human rights challenges
AKM Ahsan Ullah, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Jalan Tungku Link, Brunei and Lutfunnesa Sagor, Faculty of Law, AIUB, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
This research seeks to explore and understand the extent of human rights is violated by an elite force in Bangladesh. The constitutional right to life should not be derogated or suspended, and no person should be stripped of his or her basic human rights. (Number) of victims and human rights activists were recruited via snowball sampling and in-depth interviews were conducted. Secondary data was obtained via daily newspapers, magazines and bulletins published by various human rights organizations in Bangladesh. This is due to the elite force ignoring the existing constitutional guarantee of the right to life. The participants views were that the government has to ensure human rights are maintained. It should limit the jurisdiction of the elite force and conform to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, irrespective of the nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. Every single citizen is equally entitled to human rights without discrimination (United Nations, 2016). It is important to keep in mind that these rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Human rights scholars, activists and advocates have come to a consensus that, six decades after its issue, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) blatant violations exist in every part of the world. In 81 countries torture and abuse are common, in 54 countries people face unfair treatment and in 77 countries there are restrictions in their freedom of expression (Amnesty International, 2009). Bangladesh has ratified all the core human rights treaties (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Committee against Torture (CAT), and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Universal Declaration of Human Right (UDHR). As with UDHR, the Constitution of Bangladesh has incorporated provisions regarding fundamental rights ranging from Article-27 to 47 to protect and promote human rights of its citizens (Rahman, 2006).
Human rights, deprivation and unequal allocation of resources have been issues for then West Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between 1947 and 1971. Bangladesh struggled for 23 years to establish the rights of its citizens. Finally, Bangladesh gained independence following a nine-month-long war with Pakistan in 1971. The Pakistani army has restricted Bangladeshi’s rights throughout its history at different times, causing thousands of civilian and military deaths. This has occurred while the Army has enjoyed full impunity. The independence came as a result of a fight against violations of due rights. The country struggled to overcome significant barriers to the realization of human rights: a repressive police force, poverty, corruption, unequal distribution on of wealth and opportunities, and a slow legal system. The governments deliberately suppressed human rights, extraterritorial actors and the dynamics of regional and global hegemony allowed limited human rights for the people (Halim, 2010).
In 2004, the government of Bangladesh introduced an elite anti-crime force called the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) following a rise in the rate of crime in the country. This elite force was necessary to form. The criminal justice system has not been adequately applied and policing structure has not been made a complete professional sector. This is primarily because the police are being used politically to suppress and silence the opposition voice. The reduced powers of the police have led to and the growing number of crimes (Figure 1).
In terms of accountability and integrity systems in 31 diverse countries, judicial independence, fairness and citizen access to justice is “weak” in Bangladesh (score of 69 out of 100) (Note: According to the Global Integrity measurement system, a score below 60 is considered to be “very weak”, between 60 and 70 is considered to be “weak”, 70 – 80 is considered to be “moderate”, 80 – 90 “strong” and 90+ is considered to be “very strong) (Global Integrity, 2010). Corruption in the judiciary system may take a range of forms such as bribery, nepotism, embezzlement of funds, trading of influence and deception. Bribery, however, is the most prevalent form of corruption in the judiciary (Transparency International, Bangladesh-TIB, 2010). TIB goes on to say that among the households who received services from the judiciary, 59.6% paid bribes. Severity of of corruption depends on the level of court, for example, highest number of citizens paid bribes in high court followed by magistrate court followed by civil court. Corruption also relates to the fact that the judicial system in Bangladesh suffers from lack of adequate funding, poor salary allocations for judges, lack of disciplinary and accountability mechanisms.
Police reforms have been made in electoral pledges but was not followed through. The collection of “intelligence in crime and criminal activities” and “investigation of offences on the direction of the government” – the two major duties of RAB – could simply be carried out by the police (Momtaz, 2013; Malik, 2010). The fundamental argument is that killing by law enforcing agency could not be justified by any means, and disappearances must not be a tool for buying silence from opposition parties. The law enforcing agency this paper deals with are unofficially ordered to use any means possible to accomplish the task of getting quick results of curbing crimes. Hence, they sometimes they abuse their power under the name of ”Crossfire or Extra judicial Killing”.
