“The present situation of forced labour in our country is not that encouraging”- illustrate and explain in light of bangladesh.
In this essay we will focused that constitution prohibits all forms of forced labor and provides punishment against forced labor. We will know position of international body’s. We will also see that which punishment system are present and what forms of forced labor are done by others. We will also know the relation to fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. Our constitution contains our fundamental rights. And we will relate this through this essay.
Keywords
Constitution of Bangladesh, Fundamental rights, Forced labor, Punishment against forced labor, American convention of human right ,Department of international law, Fundamental rights of European union, International labor organization, Relation to fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.
Introduction
The constitution of Bangladesh is the supreme law of Bangladesh. It declares that Bangladesh is a democratic country. Every constitution should presser people’s fundamental rights. Our constitution is a written constitution. Every citizen have some basic or fundamental rights and they are very concern about their rights. All of us want to establish their rights. And constitution can presser this rights. If constitution does not assist our fundamental rights so country could not go ahead. Because everything follows some laws
Constitution of Bangladesh
Constitution of Bangladesh is the main law of Bangladesh. According to constitution Bangladesh is a secular democratic republic and all the sovereignty or power belongs to the people of this country. Our constitution is a hand written construction. And it’s very difficult to change anything in this constipation. If anyone want to change our constitution then he/she must need 2/3 vote of our parliamentarian members.
Bangladesh is a unitary, independent, sovereign republic to be known as the people’s republic of Bangladesh. [1] And our constitution is formed at December 16, 1972. There are many things described in our constitution but all of them are very short and clear. From all of these one is given below.
(2) The State shall adopt effective measures to remove social and economic inequality between man and man and to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth among citizens, and of opportunities in order to attain a uniform level of economic development throughout the Republic.[2]
This rule directly indicates that Bangladesh government will ensure equal rights for every citizen of this country.
The constitution proclaims nationalism, democracy, socialism and secularity as the fundamental principles of the Bangladeshi republic.[3] It is one of the most liberal constitutions. Many different laws are written
Laws inconsistent with fundamental rights to be void.[4]
Fundamental Rights
Fundamental right means basic right of a human. For a Bangladeshi, fundamental rights are enshrined by the constitution.
Natural rights versus legal rights
Natural rights are rights which are natural, not manmade or artificial. Natural rights are known as moral rights or inalienable rights.[5]
Legal rights, is manmade laws.
Claim rights versus liberty rights
A claim right is a right which entails that another person has a duty to the right holder. Legal rights and claim rights are the inverse of one another
A liberty right or privilege, in contrast, is simply a freedom or permission for the right-holder to do something, and there are noobligations on other parties to do or not do anything.[6]
Positive rights versus negative rights
Positive rights are permissions to do things, or entitlements to be done unto. One example of positive right is the purported “right to welfare”
Negative rights are not to do things, or entitlements to be left alone.[7] It is opposite of positive rights.
Individual rights versus group rights
Individual rights are rights held by individual people regardless of their group membership or lack thereof.
Group rights have been argued to exist when a group is seen as more than a mere composite or assembly of separate individuals but an entity in its own right.[8]
Fundamental Rights in Bangladesh
Fundamental rights of Bangladeshi are written in our constitution. Bangladeshi people have 23 fundamental rights under the Constitution of Bangladesh.[9] The Fundamental Rights in Bangladesh under below:
- Laws inconsistent with fundamental rights to be void (Article-26)
- Equality before law (Article-27)
- Discrimination on grounds of religion, etc. (Article-28)
- Equality of opportunity in public employment (Article-29)
- Prohibition of foreign titles, etc. (Article-30)
- Right to protection of law (Article-31)
- Protection of right to life and personal liberty (Article-32)
- Safeguards as to arrest and detention (Article-33)
- Prohibition of forced labor (Article-34)
- Protection in respect of trial and punishment (Article-35)
- Freedom of movement (Article-36)
- Freedom of assembly (Article-37)
- Freedom of association (Article-38)
- Freedom of thought and conscience, and of speech (Article-39)
- Freedom of profession or occupation (Article-40)
- Freedom of religion (Article-41)
- Rights of property (Article-42)
- Protection of home and correspondence (Article-43)
- Enforcement of fundamental rights (Article-44)
- Modification of rights in respect of disciplinary law (Article-45)
- Power to provide indemnity (Article-46)
- Saving for certain laws (Article-47)
- Inapplicability of certain articles (Article-47A)
Suspend fundamental rights in Bangladesh
There is some special situation when fundamental rights can be suspended by our government or the power authority. Certain rights may, however, remain suspended under the provisions of articles 141(a), 141(b) and 141(c) during an emergency arising out of a threat to the country’s security or economic life.[10]
Forced labor
Slavery is the basic of forced labor. So directly or indirectly forced labor means slavery which is totally band in this modern age.
Unfreeze Labor
Unfreeze labor includes all forms of slavery as well as all other related institutions. E.g. debt slavery, wage slavery, serfdom, conscription and labor camp Indenture and bonded labor
A more common form in modern society is indenture or bonded labor under which worker sign contracts to work for a specific period of time, for which they are paid only with accommodation and sustenance or this essential in addition to limited benefits such as cancellation of debt, or transportation to a desired country.[11]
Penal Labor
Penal labor is a form of unfreeze labor in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labor. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Large-scale implementations of penal labor include labor camps, prison farms, and penal colonies.[12]
Prison Labor
Prison labor is another classic form of unfreeze labor. The forced labor of convicts has often been regarded with lack of sympathy, because of the social stigma attached to people regarded as “common criminals”.
Truck System
A truck system, in the specific sense in which the term is used by labor historians, refers to an unpopular or even exploitative form of payment associated with small, isolated or rural communities, in which workers small producers are paid in either goods, a form of payment known as truck wages[13].
International situation
1. American convention of human right: in American convention of human right they clearly mentioned that every citizen has the right to live in his own way. No one can force him to do something being his wish.
No one shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with respects for the inherent dignity of the human person. [14] For break of these rule people will be punished.
2. Department of international law: department of international law prohibits all kind of forced labor by ensuring fundamental rights. In chapter 2 they mentioned all of these things.
Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected.[15]
Those people will be punished who break this rule according to the law.
3. Fundamental rights of European Union: European Union mentioned clearly about fair and just working condition which prohibits forced labor. They mention it at article 31.
Every worker has the right to limitation of maximum working hour, to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave.[16]
Break of these fundamental rights will consider as a crime and criminal will be punished.
4. International labor organization: The ILO has considered the fight against forced labor to be one of its main priorities.[17]
The present situation of forced labor
The international labor organization estimates that:
- At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labor
- more than 2.4 million have been trafficked
- 9.8 million are exploited by private agents
- 2.5 million Are forced to work by the state or by rebel military groups.
Stopping forced labor
Forced labor in an international problem. This is common in every country of this world. Forced labor is universally condemned. Yet the elimination of its numerous forms-old and new, ranging from slavery and debt bondage to trafficking in human beings-remains one of the most complex challenges facing local communities, national governments, employers and workers organizations and the international community.[18]
Comparative assessment
From all of this discussion we understood that Bangladesh constitution is the supreme law of this country. Our constitution prohibits all forms of forced labor. Under any forced labor our constitution ensure different punishment. Every human being have some rights which are very important for every person. We have 23 fundamental rights. One of is forced labor. Nobody can create pressure to do any work. If anybody create pressure to do some specific work so we will called it forced labor. And any kind of forced labor is punishable by our constitution. Our constitution encloses all types of fundamental rights. Only constitution could not to presser our fundamental rights. Every person should obey every roles and regulation of our country. So we could maintain our fundamental rights.
Besides all of these things, now we know that all of the country and organization prohibits forced labor and ensure a tuff punishment for this kind of crime.
Conclusion
In Bangladeshi constitution Bangladeshi people have 23 fundamental rights. One of the most important right is prohibition of forced labor. Constitution gives punishment for this type of crime according to the law. All fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution but we have to implement it properly. So as a human being we should be very careful.
REFERANCES
Books, Articles and web address
[1] Bangladesh constitution, rule 1
[1] Bangladesh constitution, rule 19 (2)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Bangladesh.
[1] http://www.pmo.gov.bd/pmolib/constitution/part3.htm
[1] Article of natural and legal rights.
[1] Article of claim rights and liberty rights.
[1] Article of positive rights and negative rights.
[1] Article of individual rights and group rights
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Bangladesh
[1] http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/F_0190.HTM
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labour
[1] Allen, Theodore W. (1994). The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control. New York: Verso Books.
[1] Blackburn. (1997). The Making of New World Slavery From the Baroque to the Modern, 1492–1800, London: Verso Books.
[1] Brass, Tom, Marcel Van Der Linden, and Jan Lucassen. (1993). Free and Unfree Labour. Amsterdam: International Institute for Social History.
[1] Brass, Tom. (2011). Labor Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century: Unfreedom, Capitalism and Primitive Accumulation. Leiden: Brill.
[1] Hilton, George W. (1960). The Truck System, including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. [reprinted by Greenwood Press, London, 1975.
[1] http://www.hrcr.org/docs/American_Convention/oashr4.html
[1] http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/b-32.html , article 5
[1] Charter of Fundamental rights of European Union. article 31
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Labour_Organization
[1] http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang–en/docName–WCMS_088490/index.
[1] Bangladesh constitution, rule 1
[2] Bangladesh constitution, rule 19 (2)
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Bangladesh.
[4] http://www.pmo.gov.bd/pmolib/constitution/part3.htm
[5] Article of natural and legal rights.
[6] Article of claim rights and liberty rights.
[7] Article of positive rights and negative rights.
[8] Article of individual rights and group rights
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Bangladesh
[10] http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/F_0190.HTM
[11] Brass, Tom, Marcel Van Der Linden, and Jan Lucassen. (1993). Free and Unfree Labour. Amsterdam: International Institute for Social History.
[12] Brass, Tom. (2011). Labour Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century: Unfreedom, Capitalism and Primitive Accumulation. Leiden: Brill.
[13] Hilton, George W. (1960). The Truck System, including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. [reprinted by Greenwood Press, London, 1975.
[14] http://www.hrcr.org/docs/American_Convention/oashr4.html
[15] http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/b-32.html , article 5
[16] Charter of Fundamental rights of European Union. article 31
[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Labour_Organization
[18] http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang–en/docName–WCMS_088490/index.htm