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Compare and contrast the domestic implementation mechanism of Human rights between Bangladesh and USA
Introduction:
Human rights entail the important factor related with the people of a country to protect and secure them at regional, domestic or international level. Human rights are related with literature, protection, supervision, monitoring, and implementation of a countries legal law mechanism. So very significantly it is observed that implementation mechanism of human rights of a country can indiscriminately cover both the mechanisms which are established to determine whether the standards are adhered or not. The term implementation comes only when compliance with human rights standards by individual states. Sometime overlap may happen among the two different countries. The law implementation mechanism is different in the USA. State protects the people legally by following the constitution and amendments. “Federal courts in the United States have jurisdiction over international human rights laws as a federal question, arising under international law, which is part of the law of the United States.”. There constitution permits them freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, the right to keep and bear arms. USA is providing political rights to the independent expert but it is the other way how they are maintaining their implementation mechanism. It is smoothly there by international human rights treaties on racial discrimination, women’s rights, torture, and the rights of the child, as well as new treaties on the rights of the handicapped and migrant workers.
Domestic Implementation Mechanism of Human Rights in Bangladesh:
The idea of a national human rights commission in Bangladesh has been around for several years. In April 1995, the Government of Bangladesh approved a project to assess the need for such a body and make recommendations on establishment. This project was to start in July 1995,
1. http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2008/03/20080325143737myleen0.4066278.html#ixzz2WUqF4fEs
2.http://www.humanrights.is/the-human-rights-project/humanrightscasesandmaterials/humanrightsconceptsideasandfora/theconceptsofhumanrightsanintroduction/implementation/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_human_rights_law#United_Nations_system
But it was reportedly delayed due to the political crisis in the country. It was revived in March 1996 when an agreement was signed between the government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Under the agreement, the Ministry of Law, Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs is to supervise, monitor and evaluate the IDHRB project which formally began in July 1996. The project is supported by the UNDP, which has been assisting the establishment of such national institutions in a number of countries in the region.
Objective:
The main objective of the project was to prepare the grounds for the eventual formation of a viable institutional mechanism to promote and protect human rights.”The project will seek to find out ways and means to build a mechanism for protecting and safeguarding human rights as guaranteed under the Constitution of Bangladesh at the grassroots level and to see the effective implementation of the existing legislation and enactments mentioned above 1[i.e., legislation and ordinances such as the Dowry Provision Act of 1980, the Children Act of 1974, the Cruelty to Women Ordinance 1983 (Deterrent Punishment) and the Women and Children Oppression Act of 1955].”.
Amnesty International’s comments on the IDHRB report:
Bangladesh government has taken the step to protect the ultimate right of its people but the amnesty invited it as a positive step of Bangladesh. So they have reported some important comments on it:
§ The official status of the report is not clear and the degree of its usage also not up to mark to protect its empowerment of the legal legislation4.
§ From the IDHRB report it can be identified five bodies as an authority where people of a country usually approach to obtain redress for their grievances:
1. Village elders through village Salish[binding arbitration by the village elders5
2. Union Parishad [UP – local council] Chairman;
4.http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA13/003/1997/en/15556868-ea43-11dd-8810-c1f7ccd3559e/asa130031997en.html
5. Oshikar, Jan 2011. Human Rights Report, 2010. U.S. Department of State: Human Rights Report 2011
3. Court;
4. Local Member of Parliament;
5. Police
Mechanism of human rights followed by Bangladesh:
Bangladesh is coping up with a numbers of international and national legal implementation mechanism frameworks to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedom of all citizens.
International Implementation mechanism6
· Bangladesh acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on September 6, 2000.
· Bangladesh accessed to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights (ICESCR) on 5 Dec. 1998.
· Bangladesh accessed to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) on 5 Oct. 1998.
· Bangladesh ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Children (CRC) on 26 Jan1990.
· Bangladesh is the signatories of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW) on 7 Oct. 1998.
· Bangladesh accessed to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 6 Nov. 1984 and also ratified the OPCEDAW on 6 Sept. 2000.
National implementation mechanism
National legal rights of the people of the country are protected by the national laws, constitution, and national rules and regulations of Bangladesh. It can be appreciable with the other facts:
6. Malik, K. M. A. 2011, Paper on State of Human Rights in Bangladesh
Firstly: Bangladesh Constitution confirmed fundamental rights of all its citizens with equal
access to every sector
Secondly: National law of Bangladesh secures every citizen as part of their civil rights (in line with Constitution). Civil rights are set out in the Civil Codes, the Penal Code and the Labor Code.
Thirdly: The rules and regulations of the Government that provides clear descriptions of some specific rights of the people, such as: rules and regulation on the local Government activities and various Acts.
Fourthly: Some cultural and social norms and values are linked with specific rights of the people.
Therefore we can see from the above that, the implementation of national and instruments of Human Rights have made obstacles for Bangladesh to take necessary initiatives for promotion and protection of rights of individuals or groups of people within the territory of the country. As an example: Article-6 and Article-2 of the ICCPR made obligations for Bangladesh to assure the right to life of its people and to provide prompt and efficient reparation where violations occur. Article 32 of the Constitution of Bangladesh saves the fundamental right to life and liberty, stating that: “No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty, save in accordance with law.” But in the real scenario, this has not been implemented and this most fundamental right is being repeatedly violated with complete impunity7. On the other hand, Article- 35(5) of the constitution of Bangladesh and Article-5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reveal that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” And Article-3 of the constitution of Bangladesh came up with that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” But, in practice, Bangladesh does not really ensure the right to life and has not complied with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the constitution of Bangladesh.
7. Financial Express, January 1 2010, “Human Rights in Madina Charter and Bangladesh Constitution.
Relevant aspects of Human Rights in Bangladesh
The aspects of human rights in Bangladesh can be chalked out through the following enforced law:
Rule of Law
“Rule of law” is the most significant element for protection of Human Rights. It represents the lack of arbitrariness’ in the governance of a country. It is considered as prior to everything and none can claim exemption or immunity from it. Article 32 of the Constitution of Bangladesh shows fundamental rights, a person’s rights to life and liberty. The law enforcing agencies or defense officials gets into involved in various forms of crime which is very dangerous. Law is being violated with the empowerment of ruling political party or parties.
Enforcement of acts, laws and Policies
Bangladesh has introduced a numbers of Laws, Acts and legal policies (i.e. national women policy, 2011; national children policy, 2011) in relation to protect the human rights of the people. Example: The Women and Children Repression Prevention Act (amendment in 2003).The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1980 prohibits the taking or giving of dowry .The Acid Crimes Prevention Act 2002 The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.The Dowry Prohibition Act, 19808.In spite of these laws, acts and policies, the trend of violence and crimes is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. This is only because there is a significant lack of enforcement of the law. The sick enforcement of laws is always victimizing the poor people of the country to get protection of the laws.
Affirmative Independence of Judiciary
Independence of judiciary means an appropriate and neutral judicial system of a country. This can act to take its decisions without any interference of executive or legislative branch of government. This independence is affirmed and declared by Art. 94(4) and 116A of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The Appellate Division in the Masder Hossains case observed: “The independence of judiciary as affirmed and declared by Art. 94(4) and 116A, is one of the main pillars of the Constitution. The reality is that the independence of judiciary is on the paper
8. Election Commission of Bangladesh, Women in Bangladesh, Bangladesh National Report, 1995.
because it is already separated, and still the Judges are appointed and promoted based on their ‘loyalty’ to the ruling political party.
Parliamentary Democracy of the country
Democratic system ensures the chance of people’s participation to choose their leadership and Government. After going to a long run of struggling under the military dictatorship in the Government, Bangladesh returned into the parliamentary democracy by the 12th Amendment of the Constitution in 1991, but it is failed to expose a firm formation of democratic society in Bangladesh. In 2006, volatile political culture was seen all over Bangladesh due to mistrust between two major political parties of the country.
The Commissions against corruption
To prevent of deep rooted corruption and gross violation of human right is necessary to have reinforce wide action against it. Revising the requirements, Bangladesh has introduced different structure in the name of independent “Anti-corruption commission” and “National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)”9 which rules under the control of the Government. The NHRC can only investigate human rights abuses and make recommendations to the government, not really very strong for the movement against rights violation. Recently a Bill on the Anticorruption Commission (Amendment) Act, 2011 has been tabled in Parliament with a provision that the prior permission of the government is to be required in order to file cases against government officials and public representatives.
Inappropriate implementation control of Bangladesh
There are some inappropriate approach prevailing in Bangladesh, which is denying the national image and rights of a person as a human being, some of them are:
Extra judicial killing
The “extrajudicial killing” is an epidemic form of human rights violation that often denying justice. It is considered as violation but still continues in Bangladesh. The Governments failing to
9. Memorandum for Bangladesh Development Forum 1999-2000, April 19-20, 1999, p. 49.
keep its commitment to end extrajudicial killings, torture by (RAB) and police towards assuring their accountability. According to Odhikar, 33 people1were extra judicially killed by law enforcement agencies during the last three months (January to March 31, 2011). Custodial torture and deaths
Custodial torture and death are strongly prohibited by the National and international laws. In some cases, the victims simply ‘disappear’. According to Odhikar report, 38persons died in custody during last three months, and off them 25 were died in Jail (Jan. to March 2011).
Withdrawn of criminal cases (with political consideration)
It is a vast problem in our country that the Government withdrawn a number of criminal cases (i.e. with the charges of murder, rape, robbery, corruption, extortion and for keeping illegal arms), by stating it as “political harassment” cases. Report shows that total 6,750 cases are withdrawn since Jan10 2011 by the “National review committee” for reviewing the cases for withdrawal which is very harmful for our country.
Political violence
It represent that political domination, lack of democratic culture among political parties, mistrust, and un-law full exercise of power are the main contributing factors in the political violence in Bangladesh.
Corruption
Corruption denies the enforcement of law against the powerful perpetrators and limits the hope of justice for the mass people. It is reported that (by Odhikar and media watchdog groups) at least 4 journalists were killed, 118 were injured, 2 were arrested, 43 were assaulted, 49 were threatened, and 12 had cases filed against them in 2010. During last 3months (Jan to March 2011), 20 journalists were injured, 20 threatened and 10 journalists assaulted and 03 cases were filed against journalists.
10. UNFPA (2003) ‘Violence against Women in South Asia – A Regional Analysis’, Kathmandu: UNFPA
Border Killings
Border killing by the BSF is another miserable issue for the border lying people in Bangladesh. The poor and marginalized people in border lying areas are often crossing the border (due to unmarked natural border line between Bangladesh and India) for serving works and commence.
A number of Indian nationals have also been killed by BSF deployed at the border11.
Violence against women
Violence against women is alarming in context of traditional socio-legal structures in Bangladesh. It is stated that the women and girls are mainly becoming the victim of violence. During last 3 months, women and girls were victimized by 29acid violence, 104 dowry related violence, 127 rapes and 203 sexual harassment.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
The law enforcing agencies are making some restriction in certain areas.
Rights violation of ready-made garments workers
The leaders of the garments workers are often claiming their rights issues and often declaring the strike to achieve it.
Implementation mechanism of human rights followed by USA
Initiatives of the rule of law
American Bar Association dedicates the promotion of rule of law around the world as public service project there12. The rule of law promotion is the most significant long-term antidote to the enforcing problems which is facing the world community today, including poverty, economic stagnation, and conflict.
11. UNFPA (2003) ‘Violence against Women in South Asia – A Regional Analysis’, Kathmandu: UNFPA
12. http://www.lgdj.fr/colloques-etudes-rapports/229271/non-judicial-mechanisms-for-implementation-human-rights-in
Labor and bureau of democracy
Introducing the freedom and democracy of USA which is protecting human rights are central to U.S. foreign policy.13
Individual rights and responsibilities
It was created in 1966where it provides Individual Rights and Responsibilities of leadership within legal profession in protecting and promoting human rights, civil liberties, and social justice.
1) IT often address complex and difficult civil rights and civil liberties prospects in a diverse society, and
2) Legal and policy decisions are ensured
Security program of USA
National security policies are the main fact of human rights in USA. It is provides the greater chance to bring government counterterrorism and related national security efforts into compliance with international humanitarian law (laws of armed conflict).
Convent on civil and political right
· The ICCPR is the key in human right treaty, providing a set of protections for civil and political rights.
· The ICCPR, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, are considered the International Bill of Human Rights.
· The ICCPR give the advantage to protect and preserve basic human rights such as the right to life and to human dignity, equality both before and after the law, freedom of speech, assembly and association, religious freedom and privacy, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, gender equality, fair trial and minority rights.
13. http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=437
14. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA13/003/1997/en/15556868-ea43-11dd-8810-c1f7ccd3559e/asa130031997en.html
Economic, social and cultural rights
It has been legalize state by state, Internet-accessible recourses of the constitutions, statutes, judicial opinions, and regulations for the fifty states, plus D.C., and the U.S. territories and affiliated jurisdictions15.
Civil remedies to cure breaches
The kinds of civil remedies adopted by USA can be categorized into three groups:
a. Injunctive orders,
b. Remedial orders, and
c. Other affiliated orders.
Criminal remedies to protect the human rights
a. Criminal provisions deeming domestic violence as an offence
b. Mandatory arrest and “no drop” prosecution policies
c. Measures to encourage complainant participation in criminal proceedings
Comparative assessment:
Human Rights are a theoretical perspective in value perspective in Bangladesh, in reality violation is strictly prohibited in every spheres of lives that restricting the rule of law. Some aspects from social, economic, cultural and political factors are contributing to the violation of human rights. The present reality of Bangladesh proves again that while a representative government is essential for democratic practice16. And it is not enough if the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislative fail to play their respective roles to ensure constitutional and international norms of human rights. However in some of this situation an undemocratic and dictatorial nature of power manifests in different ways and do not use the state machinery for partisan and narrow political gain properly. But there is a hope that the situation is gradually improved. In the recent time Bangladesh has shown its success in the improvement of social welfare. So in depending on
15.http://blog.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7hhkTL9Rlj4AvS5XNyoA?p=implementation+mechanism+of+human+rights&fr=yfp-t-900&fr2=piv-webordpress.com/page/2/
16. http://www.stopvaw.org/implementation_of_domestic_violence_laws
the all document it can be said that there are some difference in the mechanism of human rights between USA and Bangladesh.
In the United States, the combination of civil and criminal approaches has helped domestic violence to be enacted clearly against any crime or human rights activities. Legislation can be an act in this regard in the Violence against Women Act, 1994 (VAWA), subsequently reauthorized the statute is providing funding to states for criminal law enforcement against offenders. Also created innovative remedies for women facing violence, but it also sought to aid the coordinated response providing statutory recognition to several federal grant programs.
Recommendations
The analytical findings tend to have the development of a set of recommended actions that may be effective in attaining equality in all spheres of lives in context of Bangladesh and USA:
The Government of Bangladesh should have to revise democratic culture in all forms in national interest, establish enough respect on other’s opinions, they should remove the political clutters, unethical appreciation in the judiciary and reinforce the political representation with committed and corruption free authority responsibilities. USA is proud to present their recent picture of being the foremost bearers of human rights. Yet, they have often been heavily criticized for advancing their own interests and of double standards of life so they have to be careful on their domestic implementation mechanism of human rights.
Bangladesh government should step up into all necessary measures to end in extrajudicial killings, torture, and other human rights violations in the country. Though the domestic rule of law are dedicated to the promotion of the fundamental rights of the citizen it is maintained in USA with real respect to promote their own lifestyles. USA Legislation help to collect on specific aspects relating to the implementation of the new law regarding their human rights law, for an instances number of orders for protection granted, denied, cancelled, appealed, etc. These made available publicly law for the citizen18.
17. http://www.stopvaw.org/implementation_of_domestic_violence_laws
18. http://www.hg.org/human-rights.html
References
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http://writing2.richmond.edu/training/project/biology/abslit.html
<href=”#United_Nations_system”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_human_rights_law#United_Nations_system
http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=437
http://lizzygram.w http://blog.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7hhkTL9Rlj4AvS5XNyoA?p=implementation+mechanism+of+human+rights&fr=yfp-t-900&fr2=piv-webordpress.com/page/2/
http://www.stopvaw.org/implementation_of_domestic_violence_laws
http://www.hg.org/human-rights.html
Oshikar, Jan 2011. Human Rights Report, 2010. U.S. Department of State: Human Rights Report 2011
Malik, K. M. A. 2011, Paper on State of Human Rights in Bangladesh
Financial Express, January 1 2010, “Human Rights in Madina Charter and Bangladesh Constitution.
Election Commission of Bangladesh, Women in Bangladesh, Bangladesh National Report, 1995.
Memorandum for Bangladesh Development Forum 1999-2000, April 19-20, 1999, p. 49.
UNFPA (2003) ‘Violence against Women in South Asia – A Regional Analysis’, Kathmandu: UNFPA