New Delhi: After the flurry of resignations last week in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh, the focus is now on the next panel head and members who are expected to deliver its mandate in a vastly different scenario after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina administration in August.
NHRC chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed and five other members—Md Salim Reza, Aminul Islam, Kongjari Chowdhury, Biswajit Chanda, and Tania Haque—resigned from the panel on 5 November.
While there is no word about the probable candidate, there are reports suggesting that prominent human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan may play a key role in the formation of a new body.
According to the rights activists ThePrint spoke to, a selection committee will be formed to recommend the NHRC chairman and members whose appointment will be cleared by the Bangladesh president.
One of the activists, who have been closely watching the NHRC functioning over the years, did mention that the community was looking forward to a new setup headed by Khan.
Khan and his human rights organisation Odhikar are known for its work on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. In September last year, a Bangladesh court sentenced Khan and his colleague Nasiruddin Elan to two years in a case related to the findings of an Odhikar fact-finding report. The duo, however, was given bail the next month.
The resignations come at a time when the political landscape has shifted after the July revolution in the neighbouring country. There’s a cautious optimism that a new, more effective NHRC could emerge, one that is less obligated to political influence and more committed to its mandate of protecting the rights of all citizens.
“NHRC was ineffective because it never responded to any concerns in the past 15 years. Every time we have sent them the fact-finding reports, they have never acknowledged it. It was a place of political appointments and the resignation hasn’t shocked anyone,” Saidur Rahman, chief executive of Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (Foundation for Human Rights Culture), a human rights organisation in Dhaka, told ThePrint.
“Their resignation is good for defending human rights in Bangladesh. We just want to commit a new commission with a new set of human rights defenders which shall be led by the prominent human rights activist.”
The Commission was originally established in 2008 to promote and protect human rights, but it has long been criticised for its lack of independence and its failure to hold the government accountable.
For years, it was widely alleged that the NHRC, like many other state institutions, was controlled by the ruling Awami League and served to protect the interests of the Sheikh Hasina government. This is seen as part of a broader trend where political allies and family members of the ruling party have been placed in key government positions, often without regard for qualifications.
Rahman did not rule out that the NHRC resignations might have been due to the political pressures but added that it was bound to happen since the organisation has been “non-functional” for decades.
With the interim government emphasising on reform in the country, many like Rahman hope that the NHRC will be staffed with qualified individuals committed to upholding human rights, in stark contrast to the discredited commission of the past 16 years.
“Their resignation is good for the well-being of the people of Bangladesh. We just want to commit a new commission with a new set of human rights defenders which shall be led by prominent human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan,” Rahman said.
The NHRC has remained largely silent in the face of severe human rights abuses, including the repression of opposition members, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and mass displacement, according to the activist.
In particular, the commission neither responded to the mass arrests and violence against opposition leaders in 2023, nor did it take a stand against the violent crackdown on student protests in July and August that year.
“The resignation of the entire HRC barely registers in Bangladesh because most people aren’t even aware it exists. The Awami League has filled key positions with unqualified loyalists, including at the HRC, ensuring it never spoke out for the people,” Rupom Razzaque, a human rights activist in Dhaka, told ThePrint.
“Over the past year, 1,50,000 false cases were filed against opposition members, 30,000 leaders were arrested, and millions were displaced. Thousands were killed extrajudicially, yet the HRC remained silent. With the fall of the Sheikh Hasina administration, there’s little attention on the resignation of those handpicked by her regime, as the new government seeks to distance itself from the old order.”
“The future of human rights in the country will depend on the ongoing reforms following the July-August Revolution. While it’s too early to predict how the new commission will function, there is hope for a more qualified and effective body compared to the previous regime’s HRC. The resignation of the old commission had little impact, as it had long been non-functional. In the post-revolutionary era, there is renewed optimism, with a focus on democratic practices and good governance under the Yunus government,” Razzaque added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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