Human Rights Education in Bangladesh*

Seminar on Human Rights Education (19 May 2012)

Human Rights Education in Bangladesh*
 
By Dr. Uttam Kumar Das**

"Without education, we cannot see beyond ourselves and our narrow surroundings to the reality of global interdependence. Without education, we cannot realize how peoples of other races and religions share the same dreams, the same hopes. Without education, we cannot recognize the universality of human aims and aspirations."

-          Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan[1]

This brief paper aims to reflect on the aim and purposes of human rights education, its importance, present context and reflection on the situation in Bangladesh.

Education is a fundamental human rights. The importance for the human rights education has been underlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and in other international human rights instruments. 

Human rights education includes efforts to “build a universal culture of human rights through  imparting of knowledge and skills and moulding of attitudes.” Specifically it aims to:

1. Strengthening respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
2. Fully developing the human personality and its sense of dignity;
3. Promoting understanding, tolerance, gender equality and friendship among all nations, indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups;
4. Enabling everyone to participate effectively in a free society;
5. Furthering United Nations activities for maintaining peace.[2]

There are growing consensus that human rights education can contribute to reduce human rights violations and can also contribute to building up a free, juts, and peaceful society.

There are various dimensions of human rights education:

·        Knowledge- providing information about human rights and the mechanisms that exist to protect those rights;

·         Values, beliefs and attitudes- promoting a human rights culture through the development of these processes; and

·         Action- encouraging people to defend human rights and prevent human rights abuses.[3]

Situation of Human Rights Education in Bangladesh:

There are various streams of human rights education; however, those could be listed mainly as (i) mass education (ii) academic education. Again, both of the types could be divided into other sub-streams.

The mass education of human rights has been mainly initiated by non-governmental and civil society organizations. However, those are mainly donor-driven and time-bound. There are also lack of continuity and sustainability of the so called awareness programmes, poor quality of communication, lack of qualified trainers, alleged corruption in those activities etc.

Though, some of the donor-driven and government-run training programmes have included “human rights issues” in their curriculum, however, there are lack of qualified faculty members and trainers as well.

That’s why despite of years of so-called awareness activities, 50.2% of the population “never heard of the term ‘human rights.”[4]  

With regard to academic programme, we are lack behind. Human rights issues are yet to be incorporated in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

There is no independent programme on human rights in any university except only one (e.g, DIU). However, Human Rights or Human Rights Law is taught as a course at law departments in some universities. But the curriculum, teaching methods, expertise and experiences of the faculty member concerned and availability for the designated classes (at private universities, most of the faculties are part-timer), engagement of students with the issues require a thorough review. [After talking to some students, I have come to know that the respective teachers do not share any syllabus/course outline beforehand as well. This is the reality both at the private and public universities].    

In this backdrop, the Faculty of Law, Dhaka International University has made a milestone through introduction of two-year Master of Human Rights Programme in 2004; which is now turned into the Master of Human Rights Law with an independent Department. However, though the initiative is praiseworthy indeed, however, it is challenging at the same time.

  

 Law School and Human Rights Education: 

In developed and in some of the developing countries (including India), Human Rights is studied and taught as an independent and inter-disciplinary subject as well. Hereby, I am giving you an example of the University of Minnesota: Human Rights Law is taught as a concentration in the Master of Laws Programme at the Law School; for a concentration, one requires to study minimum of 12 credit hours out of required 24.    

At the same time, there is Human Rights Programme under the College of Liberal Arts which is for non-law students at undergraduate and graduate levels. However, law students are also allowed to take a designated number of credits there (e.g., maximum four credit hours).   

However, both at the Law School and the College, the programme is designed in such a way where one requires to: (i) study designated text books and reference materials, respond to questions by the Professors, ask questions, and participate in the relevant discussion at classes (ii) enhance analytical and writing skills, (iii) participate (present as well) in related seminars, (iv) design and present own/group projects and make presentations, (iv) write individual/group paper(s) or sit for an examination.    

What our Law Schools are doing?  

At first, let me look into the purpose of a Law School; again, I shall go back to the University of Minnesota Law School.

The Dean of the School of Law, Professor David Wippman told the graduates in the 122^nd Commencement Ceremony (15 May 2010) that: “We want students to come to the Law Schools not to learn how to memorize Statues and Rules, rather, we want them to come here to learn the skill and techniques how to find a statute and rule, how to read it out, how to interpret and analyze the same in a given legal problem in hand.”[5]  

According to veteran Indian legal academic, Professor N. R. Madhava Menon, who pioneered through establishment of National Law School India University in Bangalore, the objective of legal education is to produce: (i) sufficient competent lawyers, prosecutors, and judges to administer the judiciary; (ii) well-trained law personnel for providing legal services to the government departments and corporate institutions; (iii) legal researchers and academics for legal education, legal reform, good governance; and (iv) disseminate legal knowledge and culture conducive to the Constitution, rule of law, good governance, human rights, and democracy.

However, what is going on here in Bangladesh. I can summarize that in one sentence, however, quoting Professor Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, who told me in an interview published in The Daily Star: “a disastrous situation is going on.”[6]

And who is responsible for that; we all: the government, policy makers, Bar Council, legal academics, legal practitioners, students, and guardians.  

And at the latest the “University Owners”- which is to mean some private universities which believe in quantity of students/graduates, hardly on their quality. The same also goes for private law colleges with all the “part-timer-” students and teachers.   

After 41 years of independence, we do not have any Policy on Legal Education (nor have Policy on Human Rights Education). The donor agencies or development partners hardly pay attention to the issues. Then, one can ask- how a pro-justice legal and justice system is possible without a sound legal education? How will we get a quality lawyer or judge without a quality in the legal education?

By quality, I do mean the development of human quality of an individual along with enhancement of thinking capacity, analytical, writing and presentation skills with devotion for professional ethics and integrity and intend to do good for others.

But who will take the courage to make things happen? When will we have a Professor N. R. Madhava Menon here?   

Prospects of Human Rights Education:      

There are prospects for every branches of knowledge, if it is learnt properly, knowledge and skills of the individual is enhanced.

However, since our today’s topic is human rights education (and majority of our audience are young law students), therefore, I shall try to reflect on the particular aspect only.

Given the emergence of globalization, all most all professions turn to a global one. However, there are exceptions and discriminations, dominations and monopoly by developed countries over the prospects and benefits of the globalization as well. For example, there is free flow of capital, however, no freedom for human mobility.

Developed countries are putting various restrictions on people’s movement from the south to the north. There are politics over the issue of “human trafficking” and “smuggling.” However, I shall not move to that issue today.  

Coming back to the human rights education, there are prospects for the graduates. Even I can say sky is the limit. They can become independent practitioner (alongside legal practice) or researcher; there are jobs in the government, UN agencies, national and international organizations.  However, for that goal, one requires to earn maximum quality.  

I have overhead to discussions at Law Schools in the U.S.A. and even in India- what will one do after graduation. Those students do consider capitals of other continents as a potential hub for their future jobs.

At the same time, there are debates and arguments on needs to study human rights. During my Humphrey Fellowship year, I had a co-Fellow from China who is a Professor of Law. He had repeatedly asked me why I was spending a year studying Human Rights Law. In his context, he might be right. Renowned legal scholar Upendra Baxi even published a book titled Future of Human Rights[7]getting critical of the present notion of and politics over human rights concept.  

However, if someone has a conviction to do something for fellow human beings, then, studying and practicing human rights could be a right one.

But kindly note one thing: only studying and getting a certificate in Human Rights by someone will not bring any change to anyone (it may be a fortune for the individual concerned or his/her  family though), if someone does not believe in the spirit of human rights and does not practice in private and professional spheres.

Even one can start from a very humble and small scale. As Former Indian President Dr. A. P. J Abdul Kalam has rightly said: “It is up to you, how you could be remembered.” He observed that even a small piece of note by someone can contribute to a major change.[8]  

What Law Schools can do?

There are law departments in six public universities and nearly 40 private universities in Bangladesh. They can initiate study and research of human rights education to generate future academics, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

However, it will not bring any change if the curriculum and teaching of Human Rights Law are also remained in line with the present legal education.

Law Departments/Schools need to appreciate and introduce practical and innovative approaches of teachings, expanding opportunities for enhancing students’ analytical, writing and presentation skills. Clinical approaches should be considered given our own contexts.    

Other faculties and departments should also come forward in offering human rights education, For example, the University of Calcutta runs two programmes on Human Rights- Master of Arts and Master of Science. 

Way Forward:

The Constitution of the country has incorporated and guaranteed for some major human rights. Bangladesh is a party to all major international human rights instruments. It is a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

We have a newly established National Human Rights Commission headed by an academically sound and pro-human rights Chairman.

At the same time we have concerns for growing incidents and reports of human rights violations.

Given this scenario, we have no other option but to promote awareness and education on human rights.

And that can be done both in academic and non-academic lines at the same time.     

However, I would like to humbly propose the followings:

• Adopt a National Policy on Human Rights Education. It will reflect on the objective, purposes and contents of the various levels of human rights education and trainings in line with the spirit and obligation of the Constitution and international treaty obligation. The National Human Rights Commission could lead the process.
• Introduce human rights issues in the curriculum of primary to secondary levels. (I am aware that the NHRC Chairman has taken certain steps in this regard).
• Introduction of Human Rights as an independent subject at graduate levels.
• Introduce new departments of Human Rights under the Faculties of Social Sciences.
• Introduction of Human Rights Law Programme, Clinics etc under the Faculty of Law.

My paper and recommendations necessarily do not come out as an exhausted one in this regard. Rather, it aims to generate discussions and debates on the issues. Thus, we can find a right approach for our case.   

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* Prepared as the key note paper for the seminar on “Human Rights Education in Bangladesh,” held in Dhaka on 19 May 2012 and organized by the Faculty of Law, Dhaka International University (DIU). It is not a complete paper; however, the author aims to undertake empirical research in this regard and develop the paper into a complete one.

**Uttam Kumar Das, a Human Rights Lawyer and Practitioner, is currently affiliated with the Faculty of Law, Dhaka International University as an Associate Professor and Dean (Acting), and also as the Deputy Director with the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies. He worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) as a Legal Expert for nearly six years. He is a Fulbright- Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow (U.S.A.) and holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with concentration in Human Rights Law from the University of Minnesota Law School, U.S.A. and Doctor of Philosophy from the Institute of Bangladesh Studies, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. E-mail: ukdas1971@gmail.com

***

References:

[1] Indian Institute of Human Rights Website; link: http://www.rightsedu.net/about_us.htm; last visited on 17 May 2012.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] National Human Rights Commission, Perception, Attitudes and Understanding- A Baseline Survey on Human Rights in Bangladesh, December 2011, p. 10.

[5] The author of this paper has been graduated through the same Commencement Ceremony.

[6] For a detailed understanding, kindly read “Legal education must be brought out of the four walls,” Interview of Professor Mizanur Rahman with the author, “Law & Our Rights,” The Daily Star, 16 October 2010. Link: http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2010/10/03/interview.htm; visited on 16 May 2010. 

Law Interview: "Human Rights should be integral part of legal education"- Professor David Weissbrodt (The Daily Star, “Law & Our Rights” Section, 25 September 2010): http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2010/09/03/interview.htm.

Uttam Kumar Das, “Legal Education in Bangladesh,” PROBE News Magazine, Dhaka, link: http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=6407; last visited on 16 May 2012.

Ridwanul Hoque, “Teaching Law for Development? Legal education: Needs major overhaul,” “Law & Our Rights”, The Daily Star, 05 May 2012, link: http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2012/05/01/index.htm; last visited on 16 May 2012.

[7] Upendra Baxi, Future of Human Rights, Oxford University Press, 2008

[8] A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Swapno Niya, Daily Prothom Alo, Dhaka, 16 May 2012.

When Law Minister and Chief Justice debate*

by Dr. Uttam Kumar Das

The recent public debates between the Minster for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Shafique Ahmed and outgoing Chief Justice Mr. ABM Khairul Haque on the sincerity of judges and the government’s seriousness with regard to dispense of justice to the litigants have drawn public attention. It has further significance as it had happened in the very presence of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Apparently, both the Minister and the Chief Justice are not happy with each other’s actions, as the heads of their respective organs keeping a huge backlog of cases pending both at trial courts and the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
However, I could not find a consensus with regard to the number of back-logged cases. According to the Prime Minister, the number of pending cases in lower courts and the Supreme Court is about two million (Prothom Alo, 15 May 2011). However, according to the outgoing Chief Justice, the number is 1.6 million (Prothom Alo, 16 May 2011).
Whatever the exact number of cases might be, the reality remains that people have to suffer due to cases lingering on for years, sometimes for decades,. The investigators, prosecutors, defenders, court officials and judges are all involved in the process. Thus, it is understandable why the two got frustrated and broke out in annoyance publicly.
There are more than one version of the arguments.
The Minister for Law blasted the judiciary saying that judges are not serious about dispensing of justice. In support of the Minister, The Daily Star published an editorial on 16 May 2011: It reads, “The tendency to give dates without detail hearing, and to dispose of only few out of listed ones, is the norm rather than exception.” The Minister also further blasted judges for not following court hours strictly.
Now let us move to the position of judges. As the outgoing Chief Justice reported, the whole judiciary, especially the trial courts, have been suffering from manpower shortage, infrastructure and logistics among other limitations. He summarized the situation rightly: “the judiciary’s independence is like one asked to swim while hands and legs are tied” (Prothom Alo, 15 May).
To get an insider’s impression, I was talking to a young member of the judiciary (we were colleagues before at a Law School). What I derived from our discussions was very gloomy.
As he sees it, the number of the pending cases is totally unmanageable, given the total number of judges in the trial courts and court facilities.
There are a total of 1,200 judges in the lower judiciary staring from Assistant Judges up to District Judges. However, at least half of them are posted in administrative posts, i.e., Law Ministry and other Ministries, Supreme Court, Law Commission, National Human Rights Commission, and other public offices alongside on leave or deputation etc.
Given the population of the country at 160 million, there are one judge per 0.13 million populations. To no where is this figure comparable.
There are now around 400 vacant posts of judges in the trial courts. That is why the recommendations of the outgoing Chief Justice to double the number of judges deserve consideration.
At the same time, there is lack of infrastructural facilities. Reportedly, four to five judges at a duty station have to use one court or chamber room now on rotation basis. That is also a constraint since they could not utilize all of their court and working hours.
Since the job and responsibilities of judges are different compared to other professions, their salary structure should also be restructured taking into consideration ground reality. In this regard, the examples of India and Pakistan could be consulted.
With an aim to reduce the number of pending cases, the government has introduced Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) through enacting a law a couple of years back. However, that proved to be ineffective and fruitless. For this, again, judges and lawyers are blaming each other.
However, there are reasons for that failure. What we have done so far here is actually not ADR, rather a new form of trial (as I see it). It needs judges, lawyers, evidence, witnesses, etc. Also, there is no institutional mechanism and training components to implement ADR. So, it is like doing surgery without a proper training and degree.
Given my recent experience as a Graduate of a Summer Programme on Mediation at the Dispute Resolution Institute at Hamline University School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, I found that the United States has developed and gradually implemented a parallel system of mediation alongside the court-based trail system. In the USA, mediation is totally out-of-the-court system (though there is court-based mediation as well).
In the country like the USA, mediation has developed as a parallel subsystem of court trail. The relevant academics and practitioners had had huge contributions.
Given the cost involved and other complexities, an individual prefers to go to private mediators (who are licensed and monitored by respective regulatory bodies) in the USA.
However, I am not sure what policy makers in Bangladesh really wanted out of the ADR system. We also need to change the perception that only judges and lawyers would be “experts” on ADR or mediation. It is also a separate vocation like lawyering; and needs specials training and practices at institutional and individual levels.
It is a good thing to note that lately the Law Commission (LC) of Bangladesh has reviewed laws related to ADR in Bangladesh (with financial support from South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies-SAILS).
The LC has come up with a set of appropriate recommendations which included- establish a separate authority for ADR and allocation of required budget, systematic training facilities for ADR, introduction of ADR related courses at law schools and practical learning facilities etc.
I would like to conclude reflecting on another issue. The way so-called development partners are pushing the government, that might not work here. We need to take into consideration our local contexts and realities on the ground.
Digitalization is important, however, before that we need to look into full-time electricity supply and other practical necessities at trial courts.
As reported in media, UNDP is supporting digitalization of court systems. To me digitalization does not merely mean installation of some computers, internet services or ceremonial introduction of websites. It means more than that - appropriate training and orientation for the people working there (here, I mean judges and lawyers) and progressive practices and utilization of those facilities. And definitely this is not to show others but to bring real benefit for the people - the poor justice seekers.
Development of skills should not be one sided and aimed at institutional initiatives only; It is also needed to be individually-driven and the aims should be pro-people.
[Th]ere is a great relevancy of academic institutions. A quality legal education could work miracles. It would facilitate individuals to learn the required skills of the trade to turn in to a quality lawyer and judge in future.

Uttam Kumar Das, Ph.D., is a Human Rights Lawyer; he earned his LL.M. with Major in International Human Rights Law from the University of Minnesota Law School, U.S.A. E-mail: udas1971@gmail.com

*Originally appeared in the PROBE News Magazine, Dhaka, 20-26 May 2011; link: http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=7124

Skills of Judges*

Chief Justice of Bangladesh ABM Khairul Haque publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the quality of judges at a recent function of Bangladesh Women Judges’ Association in Dhaka. He finds a lack of “standard” in verdicts. He categorically mentioned the lack of “sufficient legal information and data.” “The judges have to be studious to learn how to use the law points and legal grounds in their judgments to make those correct and credible,” he said. I appreciate the Honourable Chief Justice for kindly taking note on the seriousness of the issue.

Lack of quality legal education in the country has contributed to this unfortunate condition of the legal and judicial system. However, no action has been taken so far to remedy the situation.

Being a recent Hubert H Humphrey Fellow (and later on as a graduate student) at the University of Minnesota Law School in the United States, I have realized how Law Schools (here Departments or Colleges in Bangladesh) are the right places to teach students understanding and interpretation of laws rightly, legal research and writing- preparing briefs, memos, and even judgments on a given issue.

If a law graduate is knowledgeable in terms of legal issues and efficient in professional skills, then we can expect skilled lawyers and judges in future. Otherwise, the opposite will prevail. That is why we should look into how we can make our legal education more practical, human rights centric and pro-people. Both public and private institutions should come forward in this regard.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das

Dhanmondi, Dhaka

*Originally appeared in the PROBE News Magazine, Dhaka, 1-7 April 2011; link: http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=6967

Academic as the Chief Law Officer: Prof. Sangroula appointed Attorney General of Nepal

It is not a surprise; rather the Republic of Nepal gets a right person in a right position.

Professor Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, the Founder-Executive Director of Kathmandu School of Law (KSL) has been appointed as the Attorney General of Nepal.

President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, has approved this appointment on 13 February. He took oath on the 14th.

Dr. Sangroula is on the Academic Committee of Dhaka-based South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS). He is also a licensed Advocate (Attorney) in Nepal having practiced in the Supreme Court.

Dr. Sangroula is now more than a name; has been a known personality and role model for a bunch of law students and young legal academics and practitioners in Bangladesh. It happens through the initiatives of the organizations like SAILS or Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP).

Dr. Sangroula is a renowned legal academic with specialization in criminal justice system and human rights; more than that he has pioneered in setting up a standard for legal and human rights education through establishing Kathmandu School of Law (KSL).

He has pioneered in organizing an annual (month-long) International Residential Course on Economic, Social and Development Rights, and Good Governance for last six years in Nepal.
A seasoned legal researcher, Dr. Sangroula has been a promoter for a pro-people legal education and justice system. He dreams of a South Asian Jurisprudence to be developed by new generation jurists, lawyers and legal academics.

His scholarship reflected in the recent publication, a thought-provoking book entitled, Jurisprudence: the Philosophy of Law- Oriental Perspective with Special Reference to Nepal (published by KSL in 2010).

Being sworn in as the Attorney General, Dr. Sangroula vows to bring reform in the Criminal Justice System in Nepal; along with enhancing capacity and skills of the public lawyers and establishing effective relations between the Office of the Attorney General and police. He wants to do this to ensure justice for the people.

Dr. Sangroula underscores need for “empowering government attorneys to make them as competent...”

Born on 11 January 1959 at Subang, Panchthar in Nepal, Dr. Sangroula has taken up teaching as his life-long mission in 1987. He has been a legal practitioner and devoted to the cause of the marginalized and disadvantaged group of people.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Delhi University in 2007 for his dissertation entitled, “Criminal Justice System of Nepal with Special Reference to Legal Framework and Practices of Interrogation, Extrajudicial Confession and State of Fair Trial.”

Country like Nepal shows us the way to taking up a legal academic as the Chief Law Officer of the State. This would be instrumental in shaping up the legal profession hopefully.

Developed countries like United States, legal academics and scholars are picked up as Judges and Attorneys (i.e., Advocate) and vice vie; thus academia and legal practices are mutually benefited.

Unfortunately, we, in Bangladesh, are lagging behind in this regard (even from what Nepal has done).

Nonetheless, we, in recent times, got two prominent legal academics as the Chairpersons of our Law Commission and Human Rights Commission. However, we need more blending of legal academics and practitioners for the benefit of both legal education and legal and judicial systems.

As one of my senior colleague and mentor, I know Dr. Sangroula as a Man of activism; he has vision and mission and corresponding courage and dynamism to act upon. He believes in action.
Let’s wish him all success in his new professional endeavours.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das
LL.M. (Minn., U.S.A.), Ph.D. (Raj)
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
E-mail: udas1971@gmail.com

Dr. Uttam Das working for reform of legal education

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das, a Human Rights Lawyer in Bangladesh has been working for reform of legal education.

He was a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow in the year 2009-2010 and was affiliated with the University of Minnesota Law School and Human Rights Center in Minneapolis, U.S.A.

His focus was on "Laws and Policies Related to Labor Trafficking in the United States of America." As part of the Fellowship, Dr. Das volunteered for the Refugee and Immigrant Program at the Advocates for Human Rights, an international human rights organization in Minneapolis.

Dr. Das is admitted as an Advocate (Attorney) in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and is providing pro bono legal advice to promote rights of migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking. He also lectures regularly on human rights issues at law schools in Dhaka.

He has organized two regional seminars in Dhaka on “Ethics in Legal Profession" and "Legal Education in South Asia," respectively on January 15 and January 16, 2011 under the banner of the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS). Dr. Das is now working as the Deputy Director at SAILS.

The seminars brought together the Law Minister, Chairpersons of National Human Rights Commission and Law Commission of Bangladesh, policy makers from Bar Council and renowned jurists and legal academics among others from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Major newspapers in Bangladesh gave significant coverage of the programs; link of a relevant report: http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2011/01/04/event.htm

"The aged-old legal education in Bangladesh needs drastic reform and standardization to meet the need of the time," says Dr. Das.

According to him, "legal education should be human-centric and practical which could be able to contribute to pro-people justice system." He is also advocating for incorporating human rights issues in legal curriculum, and contributing to national newspapers on the issue.

He has been liaising with the legal academics, law schools, Bar Council, Law Commission and National Human Rights Commission for the reform.

Dr. Das is a visiting faculty to the Kathmandu School of Law in Nepal. He runs a blog as well; link: http://udas1971.blogspot.com.

He has been invited to present key note papers at symposiums in the capital recently organized by the largest NGO, BRAC and migrant rights organization, WARBE Development Foundation.

Dr. Das was part of a three-member technical team commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2010 to draft a comprehensive law on human trafficking. The draft law is now under the review of the relevant ministries. The Government of Bangladesh is likely to adopt the law soon as an Act endorsed by the National Parliament.

He formally worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Dr. Das got his Doctor of Philosophy from the Institute of Bangladesh Studies (IBS) at the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh. He is now scheduled to get his second LL.M. (Master of Law) with concentration in International Human Rights Law from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Law Event: Introduce ethics in legal curriculum*

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das

Presenters, discussants, designated guests and participants at two seminars recommended to introduce ethical issues in the curriculum of law schools and bar examinations. They also recommended an immediate reform of legal education in Bangladesh and urged for a Legal Education Council to monitor and streamline standard of legal and justice education. The seminars also urged for introducing courses on comparative study of South Asian Laws and Constitutions to promote regional cooperation and unity.

It also recommended expanding opportunity to study law and human rights in the country. Dhaka-based organization, South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) organized two seminars on “Ethics in Legal Profession” and “Legal Education in South Asia,” respectively on 15 and 16 January 2011 at city's BRAC Center Inn. Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs was the Chief Guest at the closing session of the seminar on 15 January. Advocate Abdul Baset Majumder, Vice-Chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council was the Guest of Honour. Eminent Jurist and Chairperson of SAILS, Dr. Kamal Hossain presided over the session.

Professor Dr. M. Shah Alam, Chairman of Law Commission was the Chief Guest at the opening session on 15 January while presided over by Professor Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Executive Director of Kathmandu School of Law (KSL) in Nepal. Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh was the Chief Guest at the closing session of the seminar on “Legal Education in South Asia” on 16 January while Professor Dr. Ainun Nishat, Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University was the Special Guest. Dr. Kamal Hossain presided over the session as well. Country papers on legal education were presented by Professor Dr. M. Shah Alam, Chairman of Law Commission of Bangladesh and Professor M. Zakir Hossain, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Chittagong covering Bangladesh; Professor Dr. Deepika Udagama, University of Peradeniya on Sri Lanka; Professor Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Executive Director of KSL on Nepal and Dr. Clearance J. Dias, President of the New York-based International Center for Law in Development on Indian legal education.

Dr. Abdullah Al Faruque, Associate Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Law, University of Chittagong; Dr. Faustina Pereira, Director of Human Rights and Legal Service (HRLS) Programme of BRAC and Dr. Naim Ahmed, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh were panel discussants.

Barrister Shafique Ahmed said that for an effective justice system there is a dire need for competent, skilled, honest and sincere lawyers and judges. For this legal education and professional trainings could play a pivotal role. He emphasized on the professional integrity and sincerity of lawyers and judges to ensure justice for poor people. Rejecting the criticism on having over increasing number of lawyers, the Law Minister said that for a country with 160 million people 40,000 or so number of lawyers is not excessive. Rather we need more of them. However, at the same time we have to look into the standard of law graduates who are joining bars and benches; and how sensitive they are to work for the cause of human rights and justice, he opined.

Professor Mizanur Rahman recommended for a model law university in Bangladesh which would go beyond traditional approach and would teach law covering its broader meaning and concepts which would include people's culture, diversity, rights, aspiration, and hope among others. He also emphasized on the practical teaching of law.

Law Commission Chairman, Professor Dr. Shah Alam urged for more active role of Bangladesh Bar Council in standardizing legal education and promoting ethics in the profession. He also recommended for creating separate cadres for judicial and legal services. Dr. Alam said that if we failed to standardize our legal education immediately incorporating high ethical values and moral standards among others, as a nation we would suffer in future. He urged the government to establish a model law university on the basis of best practices already there in countries like India and Nepal. Referring to aged-old curriculum, Professor Yubaraj Sangroula of KSL said that legal education should not be confined to studying of legal rules and law books only; rather it should be inter-disciplinary and have links to various issues of the society and people. Professor Zakir Hossain of the University of Chittagong urged to set up a national vision for legal education in the country. He also recommended for special training programmes for lawyers and legal professionals and initiate collaboration among law schools, National Human Rights Commission, Law Commission and Judicial Administration Training Institute (JATI). Dr. Kamal Hossain, Chairperson of SAILS, urged for streamlining and standardizing legal education in Bangladesh. He emphasized on the need of consensus, strategy and initiatives immediately in this regard. “We all have to stand up against bad practices in the legal and judicial system,” he said. He also emphasized for establishing a South Asian Law University in Bangladesh. SAILS also felicitated Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman for being honored with “Professor N. R. Madhava Menon Best Law Teacher Award 2010.” SAILS Chairperson Dr. Kamal Hossain handed over a crest to Professor Rahman at the closing session of the seminar on legal education.

The writer is Deputy Director, South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS).

*Originally appeared in The Daily Star (Law & Our Rights Section), January 22, 2011; link: http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2011/01/04/event.htm

Opinion: Preventing human trafficking vs. promoting safe migration

By DR. UTTAM KUMAR DAS

What is more important for Bangladesh- preventing human trafficking or promoting safe migration?
To me, both deserve equal attention and appropriate interventions by the government and all concerned.
It is evident that neglecting one could instigate another and vise versa.
However, what do we see to happen? Especially, in Bangladesh, there is disproportionately more attention and emphasis on activities focusing on trafficking.
Human trafficking or Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is considered as a modern form of slavery. It turned to a global concern given its multi-dimension- criminal, legal, human rights, health, and moral aspects among others. There is political dimension as well.
There is a general believe that trafficking is contributed by the much known “demand and supply factors.” It has other sides as well.
No country is immune from this vise. Even, the United States, which is “monitoring performances of other States” with regard to prevention, prosecution, and protection of the victims, is not free from this. It is affected by trafficking crimes domestically and at cross-border levels.
Sex and labour trafficking is a huge problem there, as I understood during my recent stay in the country for a year. NGOs there are very much critical of government’s policies and actions.
Trafficking is not only driven by “demand and supply factors.” There are other reasons also: it is now widely acknowledged that human trafficking is an outcome of discriminatory global economic order and disproportionate sharing of wealth, and bad governance and lack of rule of law in a given country.
No other person, but the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh, Dr. Mizanur Rahman who himself is a Professor of International Law believes so; and mentioned this strongly in recent conversations with me.
According to him: “Trafficking or similar other phenomenons are outcome of the discriminatory global economic order.” Under the so-called globalization process, capitals are moving across borders; however, human beings are not allowed for the same, as he pointed out.
Also, the so-called counter-terrorism moves in response to 9/11 have prompted to make the border control stringent. That is why people now have more barriers to go out of his or her own countries and enter into desired ones for economic or other reasons.
Even, the asylum seekers and refugees fleeing from persecution have to face restrictions and barriers to move, which are in contradictions to set norms of international human rights regimes.
That is why people become desperate and look for an alternative to move from one place to another in clandestine ways, even paying enough to and relying on human smugglers and thus fall in the trap of traffickers. The intended movers have no other options but to fall in those traps.
Even developed countries allegedly don’t issue visa against the number of migrant workers they need for keeping their industry and economy operative in a given year. This trend insists people to find alternative ways; even sometime, risking own life.
Thus, in the migration process, some become victims of trafficking. However, we need to understand the abuses and exploitations in the migration processes and becoming victims of trafficking are not the same. Both might have cross-cutting elements, however, motives behind, purpose, mode, technique, and consequences are very different for the two.
Bangladesh is considered as a source country for human trafficking. Especially, trafficking of young girls, women and children are reported to be at a serious form. At the latest, human trafficking in the form of offering overseas jobs are becoming concerns. However, we don’t have any reliable statistics in this regard. The figure cited by NGOs, sometime, contradicts one another.
Poverty, over population, lack of livelihood options, illiteracy, lack of awareness, social discrimination, corruption, lack of rule of law and access to justice etc among others are considered as contributing factors to human trafficking.
However, is incidents of trafficking outnumber other forms of human rights violations in Bangladesh? It is the time to reflect on this.
I am not to diminish the seriousness of violations of human rights through trafficking. However, my point is whether we are paying more attention to the issue undermining other contemporary problems. What about child and bonded labour within the country, forced prostitution, violence against (garment) workers, hunger and poverty?
It is the fact that the “seriousness of human trafficking” brought to the forefront mostly by NGOs here (like other regions). However, it was not without a reason. There had been a connection between the flows of funding from the donor agencies-mainly the western ones and NGO initiatives.
For a decade or so, the developed countries have reportedly been investing to “anti-trafficking” initiatives as a mean to achieve goals for their broader border control strategies. Those aim so that people have been barred even to reach to their respective borders.
This could heavily contribute to impose restriction on people’s movement, mainly from developing countries like ours towards developed ones. That is why number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in developing and under-developed countries is increasing while number of asylum seekers or refugees in developed countries decreased. Why this contradiction?
Developed countries now reportedly have to spend comparatively less for activities linked to processing asylum applications, detaining, maintaining or deporting “illegal immigrants among others,” since less people now could reach their territories.
As in the asylum system, developed countries have already introduced the so-called third country protection mechanism- meaning potential asylum seekers and refugees are barred to enter into their territory; instead they had to stay and live at detention centers for years under a so-called out-sourced mechanism in a third country having funding for allowing these activities. For example, Australia has used Nauru, and Italy used Malta for those purposes.
Coming back to Bangladesh, our government was under compulsion to act upon on trafficking issues under pressures from NGOs.
There was another reason as well- the “tier system” in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report published by the U.S. Department of State. For example, in 2010, Bangladesh is put in tier 2 watch lists, which reflected country’s inability to respond to the problem of trafficking as “expected”.
Earlier, Bangladesh was put in tier 3, which is considered as the worst performances.
In deed it is the fundamental rights for a citizen of Bangladesh, to enjoy right to life and personal liberty, equal protection of law, and to be free from exploitations (slavery) among others.
I am mentioning all these issues here, having observed the phenomenon that most of organizations earlier working in “anti-trafficking initiatives” are now moving towards “migration area;” again responding to donor’s choices and priorities.
All are free to work on an issue whatever makes them interested. However, question comes in whether someone has relevant capacity and skills for all works.
However, unfortunate point is that there is no preference to the national interest. Even, the governmental agencies are failing to respond in a right direction.
Given the context of Bangladesh, promotion of safe and regular migration deserves to get prime and outmost importance; however, it is not getting so (again there is no funding for such activities).
It is widely acknowledged that more than seven million Bangladesh-origin persons are now working or living abroad. In 2009, the country has earned US$ 10.72 billion as remittances through migration of 475,000 persons mostly as contractual labour migrants. There is a trend of 17 percent growth in remittances since 2001. The remittances are 13 percent of country’s GDP. Remittances are contributing to reduce 6 percent of poverty per annum. It (remittance) is 12 and 6 times higher respectively than the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh.
Though professionals from Bangladesh are going abroad with jobs, however, majority are of other categories-66 percent constitutes semi-skilled.
Given this huge contribution of migration, our successive governments are failing to respond adequately to meet the need and demand of this emerging sector- both from public and private sectors.
There are “huge activities” in respond to the human trafficking in Bangladesh. There are Inter-Ministerial Committee, Project Implementation Committee, Coordination Committees at District, Sub-districts, and union levels to coordinate “anti-trafficking activities.”
There are so-called awareness programmes up to village levels. One donor agency has reportedly spent US$ 1.7 million in three years for “technical training and raising awareness.” However, those activities did not get expected outcomes, since it has nothing to do with people’s economic or livelihood options. Also, those activities did not sustain since it was merely fund-driven.
On the contrary, what do we see in the migration sector- there are hardly such committees to promote and coordinate activities to promote safe migration from the capital to the village (except few initiatives by BRAC and others).
Even, there is likely no coordination among the activities of line ministries, i.e., Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MOEWOE), Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs among others.
I have been advocating for a high-powered committee under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to coordinate and streamline activities. (I am informed that at the latest there is an initiative to coordinate activities by the Principal Secretary at PMO).
In a recent workshop (on 13 December) on migration issues organized by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), the issue of over emphasizing on “anti-trafficking initiatives” came in at discussion.
Human Rights Lawyer Adilur Rahman Khan rightly pointed out that Bangladesh should take a caution so that it does not stop people’s right to movement (go out of the country, which is a fundamental right) in the name of preventing so-called human trafficking.
There is empirical evidences that expanding opportunities for people’s safe and regular migration could contribute to curbing human trafficking. If someone has opportunity to migrate safely, why he/she would take risk of his/her own life. However, we hardly look into this aspect.
That is why Bangladesh needs to move its main focus from preventing human trafficking to promoting safe migration.
Definitely, government should ensure effective mechanisms to prosecute crimes of human trafficking and similar other crimes and continue activities to raise people’s awareness on this.
However, in the name of prosecution, we should not come up with bunch of new laws prescribing “heavy-handed authorities.” We should be realistic in our own context and focus on the proper implementation of existing laws- if required there should be required amendment and modification to meet the need to the time. However, emphasis should be on implementation of existing laws and regulations. For this, logistics and training for investigators, prosecutors and judges are required.
A comprehensive law does not mean to bring a set of new laws and lofty ideas which are impractical to implement in our context. We are also becoming sectoral; none is looking into the criminal justice system as a whole.
Also, there are roles to play by the government, UN agencies, and inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations: to negotiate with prospective destination countries to expand opportunities for safe and regular migration. The government should also look into the matter of expanding skill and capacity of would be migrants.

© Dr. Uttam Kumar Das. Prior permission is required to republish or quote.

The writer is an Advocate (Attorney) at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and specializes on International Human Rights Law and Migration Issues. E-mail contact: udas1971@gmail.com.

Whither Legal Education in Bangladesh*

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das

Like many others, I am concerned with the standard of the legal education in Bangladesh. The low standard of this education is contributing to having graduates with skills below the expected and desired standard. The legal profession, judiciary and other services suffer when such people join the profession.

Then how can we compete in the global context?

However, this is not the reality for legal education only. The same also goes for other disciplines as well (with few exceptions). But our concentration here is on legal education.

According to renowned Indian legal academic, Professor N. R. Madhava Menon, ‘law as a discipline is to play multiple tasks in a society and lawyers are expected to act as change agents and social engineers in governance and development of the nation.

In a recent discussion, a former Judge of the High Court Division, wondered about the initiative from the Bar Council or the Bar Association which has produced lawyers like Dr. Kamal Hossain, Barrister Amir-ul Islam …with regard to our legal education and future of the legal profession. According to him, the legal profession should not be open for all but for those law graduates who have adequate legal knowledge, have sufficient skills and are conversant with the norms and ethics of the profession.

Again, Professor Menon who pioneered the global-standard legal education through establishing National Law School of India University in Bangalore, observes that the goal of the legal education is to provide: (i) competent lawyers, prosecutors, and judges to administer the judiciary, (ii) well-trained law personnel for providing legal services to the government departments and corporate institutions, (iii) legal researchers and academics for legal education, legal reform, good governance, and (iv) disseminate legal knowledge and culture conducive to the Constitution, rule of law, good governance, human rights, and democracy.

Therefore, what is the existing status of legal education here?

We all are talking about bringing culture of respect for human rights, rule of law, and democracy; however, we are not paying attention to the basic - the legal and human rights education.

The donor agencies, which have been partnering for awareness and training programmes are not paying attention to the root of the issue- the legal and human rights education. With regard to training, NGO initiatives are also not sufficient due to deficiency in their own capacity and expertise, lack of continuity and corruption.

The desired legal education, as visioned by Professor Menon, should be problem solving which would give opportunities to students for legal analysis and reasoning, research and writing, investigation and marshalling facts, communication, negotiating, counseling, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and litigation. The graduates are expected to manage efficiently the legal work and will have right attitudes to the dignity of the profession of law and justice. They would nourish and fight to protect the professional values and integrity, and to promote and practice fairness and freedom from bias. How close or far away are we from those?

Recently, I was attending a seminar on the Alternative Dispute Resolution jointly organised by the Law Commission and the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) in Chittagong. The issue of the condition of legal education came up in the discussion. The Chairman of the Law Commission, Justice Abdur Rashid warned all of us that if we did not pay immediate attention then we shall have to pay heavily in future.

The existing scenario of the legal education has been documented by Professor Menon in a study almost a decade ago commissioned by a donor agency. He also come up with a comprehensive set of recommendations and plan for streamlining our legal education. However, there is no headway since then.

Professor Menon piloted the plan of Indian Bar Council for a world-class legal education through establishment of the National Law School of India University in Bangalore. The same model has been replicated all over India over the years; there are now more than 15 Law Universities in India. Even, Kathmandu Law School in Nepal has earned fame for its quality curriculum, teaching methods, research and publications. Unfortunately, we are far behind still now.

In our country, we have four streams of legal education. There are law departments in four public universities. Around 35 private universities have law departments or schools. There are 70 law colleges under the National University all over the country. There are external programmes of a few British universities as well.

The curriculum and teaching methods are mostly outdated (with exceptions for few courses in few public/private universities). Very few institutions have schemes to engage students so that they could learn legal research and writing skills with regard to a social problem.

The law schools also follow a faulty selection process for teachers. There is no faculty tenure, service conditions, evaluation processes etc.

Professor Menon rightly observed, years of experience do not make a good law teacher unless the experience is grounded on experimentation, endeavour, and creativity.

In the United States, law schools provide extra credits in selecting faculty members to those who have experiences in research works, publications, advocacy and pro bono works, and working experience for international and national legal or human rights organisations alongside the academic excellence.

Here in Bangladesh, though the law schools/departments have their “journals” (not regular in publication), those follow the rule of “limiting the knowledge.” In case of public university, only the respective faculty members could contribute articles (but no question about independent review and competitive selection process). Those publications are also not available for public, even with payment. (At least I have that experience on a couple of occasions).

Bangladesh Bar Council, the statutory body to look after the standard of legal education and ethics in legal profession has also been failing to play its due role. It has reportedly no activity with regard to research and experiment on legal education, curriculum and related professional issues. According to some observers, the Council has turned into a place of “clerical activity” for issuing licenses to advocates and a “political platform for a section of lawyers” to compete with each other. But it should be above and beyond political divisions. The agency has no innovation and creativity with regard to academic and research activities for quality legal education and related matters for legal profession. It has no regular research projects and publications as well.

Given my recent experience in the United States, I found out how an NGO like the American Bar Association (ABA) is serious with regard to development of the quality of legal education, research, publication and above all quality of the graduates coming out of law schools. There, the Bar Examination Board and respective State Supreme Courts are the authority to take examinations for fresh law graduates and to issuing license as an Attorney (Advocate in Bangladesh). However, the law schools have to have accreditation from the ABA who inspects law schools on a cyclic order. State and County Bar Associations also have lot of activities for the professional development.

Recently, I had had a discussion with M. Professor Shah Alam, Member of the Law Commission. He had been my teacher at the University of Rajshahi (before he had moved to establish the Department of Law at the University of Chittagong). I find the same concerns as of mine in Professor Alam. He is also worried about the quality of legal education and absence of initiative for improvement. This seasoned legal academic expressed his anguish regarding no help from the related ministry and others concerned in this regard.

I came to know from Professor Alam that he and Professor Mizanur Rahman (presently the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission) was commissioned by the World Bank almost a decade ago for conducting two studies on the legal education and clinical legal education in the country. Following that the Law Commission (Professor Alam was a Member earlier as well) has submitted a completed proposal for streamlining the legal education to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. However, there is no progress in this regard so far. There is no vision and direction on legal education in the newly adopted Education Policy as well.

Then, how we would get skilled personnel to compete and negotiate in a globalised world in government dealings, trades and business.

I wonder, given a good number of our policy makers having background in law and being in legal profession, how come the matter is getting ignored for years. This is high time for us to move on and take up the issue immediately. Otherwise, our dream for a pro-active and pro-people legal and judicial system would remain a distant dream. We should aim to make the “legal studies intellectually stimulating, socially relevant and professionally significant,” as Professor Menon observes.

Writer is an Advocate (Attorney) in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He is also a researcher and analyst on legal and human rights issues.

* Originally appeared in the Daily Sun, Dhaka, 14 December 2010; link: http://www.daily-sun.com/index.php?view=details&type=daily_sun_news&pub_no=67&cat_id=&menu_ id=17&news_ type_id=1&index=0&archiev=yes&arch_date=14-12-2010

Safe Migration and Bangladesh- Potentials, Possibilities and Problems*

By DR. UTTAM KUMAR DAS

This brief paper aims to discuss potentials of Bangladesh as a country of origin for migrant workers and (focuses) on challenges as well. It will also look into some other related issues and propose a set of recommendations accordingly.

The term migrant workers refers to a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national (Art. 2 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990).

For the purpose of this paper, we would refer to migration as movement of Bangladeshi nationals out of the country (i.e., emigration) with a job overseas for a certain period. The out-migration of students, spouses or dependents and others is not in the consideration here.

Again, there is no definition of safe migration in the respective international instruments including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990. However, for the purpose of the paper, safe migration would mean a situation and condition for a migrant worker where s/he would not be fallen into an “irregular situation” and could enjoy her/his due human rights as a migrant worker, and would be free from all forms of exploitative situations.

Safe migration is a human right. I would argue that, for a citizen of Bangladesh, it (safe migration) is a fundamental right as well.

Article 31 of the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees for equal protection of law; while Article 32 guarantees right to life and personal liberty, Article 33 freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, Article 34 freedom from slavery, and Article 36 (guarantees for freedom of movement.

Importance of Migration Sector in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a labour surplus country. On an average, 2.7 million people are reportedly added to the existing work forces.

The rate of current unemployment is 3.7 percent. There is an estimated 30 million unemployed people in Bangladesh (as in 2008). However, by 2015, the total number of unemployed would be about 60 million, as ILO forecasted. Since both the public and private sectors have no capacity to absorb all the coming up workforces, therefore, we need to find out an alternative.

Having this scenario, our working population, especially the young ones have to find a way to manage job overseas, which is now turning to a vital sector to earn foreign exchange for the nation.

The country has huge potentials in this ever-growing migration sector; however, there are challenges as well.

There are estimate that more than seven million Bangladeshis are now working and living abroad. This migration for want of work, in a formal process, started in late 1970s.

Countries in the Western Europe, North America, Africa and even in the Eastern Asia need migrant workers to meet up their need to run industries, construction works, health, hospitality, and other service sectors among others.

Though the economic recession has imposed a negative impact on the flow of migrants, however, it is to stand up soon.

Bangladesh has earned a record amount of US$ 9.6 billion as remittances during 2008-2009 fiscal year.

In the full year of 2009, the amount was again nearly US$ 10 billion (74,000 crore Taka) though the period was hit by the global economic recession (which hardly had any negative impact to the total remittance flow to Bangladesh). The remittance remained almost steady though the number of migrating population get down to almost half (475,000) in 2009.

The migration sector has a huge contribution in the foreign exchange earnings of the country, however, the sector is not getting adequate attention of the government, and there is no well-coordinated planning so far.

The growth of remittances flow since 2001 is 17 percent per year on an average. The official remittances flow is 13 percent of GDP, as Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan, Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MOEWOE) disclosed at a seminar in Dhaka on 11 October this year.

The remittances are 12 and 6 times higher respectively than the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh.

There are prediction that by the year 2015, Bangladesh can earn an annual amount of US$ 30 billion as remittances given the new job market is explored, migrant workers’ skills are enhanced, and remittances are sent through officials channels.

There are opportunities to expand female migration provided with adequate skills and language training. According to official record, the ratio of female migrants is around 4 percent. However, if the “undocumented” are added in the ratio would be around 15 to 20 percent.

There are demands for qualified nurses, and trained housekeepers, and maids in North American and European countries. Only the United States will require 1.4 million nurses by 2014, as media reported.

However, so far, there is no noticeable progress in this regard. According to a senior official of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), the country would reach an amount of US$ 15 billion as remittances by 2015 if the existing trend of migration continues.

At the same time, the migration sector has been facing a great numbers of problems, which I will be exploring further in the later part of the paper.

In addition, given the threat of the climate changes and its consequences, Bangladesh needs to explore more opportunities for people to migrate as workers and in other capacities.

Problems in Migration Sector

There are a great number of problems and challenges, which are, contributing negatively to the potentials of the migration sector of Bangladesh.

I would like to categorize those problems in two broad types: (i) Problems with regard to governance of migration sector, and (ii) Problems with regard to protection of migrant workers.


Problems with Regard to Governance of Migration Sector

Over last four decades, the number of migrant population from the country has expanded hugely. However, the management and governance capacity of the government did not progress accordingly. Though, there is a separate ministry now, however, it and subsidiary offices have been facing lack of required personnel and from other shortcomings.

The private sector, i.e., Recruitment Agencies (RA) has a significant contribution in booming the sector, however, they also lack in their capacity, honesty and transparency in their respective works.

In the public sector (i.e., Ministry and respective Departments etc), problems include lack of required policy, resources, work force, and transparency in the system.

The existing personnel also lack required capacity, skills, motivation, and some of them lack transparency in their works (as required by existing laws and rules).

Though managing and regulating migration is a technical task (compared to general administrative works), however, there is no permanent cadre thereby. The technical officials responsible for managing and regulating migration like Labour Attachés (LA) are deputed from the Administrative cadre and other departments on ad hoc basis. However, the job of an LA requires some sort of special knowledge and skills. The same goes for other positions in the respective ministry. Therefore, there is a need to have a specialized pool of officials dedicated to work in the migration sector. They would serve in various positions through promotions.

The migration cost is apparently sky rocketing (compare to Nepal, India or Cambodia) and our government has no control on this. The Recruiting Agencies and their dalals are unabated in this regard. Though government has fixed amount, however, the reality is totally different.

It is evident that for going to Malaysia or the U.A.E., a migrant has to pay Taka 200,000 to 300,000 (where government prescribed amount is Taka 80,000); however, one could earn maximum half of the amount already spent, if really get a job, during the contracted year ranging from one to two.

This factor insists the migrants to look for to earn more through changing the jobs, if possible, and in other means. Thus, they turn to “unlawful emigrant,” or “irregular,” and their job also turn to “illegal.”

With regard to regulatory framework, the core legal framework to deal with labour migration issues is the Emigration Ordinance, 1982 supplemented by three Rules of 2002.

Those instruments have already proved to be outdated and failed to meet the need and complexities of the time. The Ordinance is failing to address the growing trend of migrant trafficking- abuse and exploitations in the guise of offering jobs overseas. However, there is no statistics on this.

Although to prosecute those new forms of crime (i.e., human trafficking in the forms of migration which included deception, coercion, fraud, abduction, confinement, slaver, rape, forced prostitution etc), several sections of the Penal Code and other special laws can be applied; however, there are lack of understanding, knowledge and appropriate training among the law enforcers, prosecutors and judges concerned.

In addition, there is hardly any example of prosecuting or punishing (other than “imposing fine” or “suspending” or “canceling” licenses) perpetrators who are responsible for cheating or exploiting the migrants.

Though the existing laws (i.e., Ordinance and Rules) require monitoring of activities of the Recruiting Agencies, however, those hardly happen due to so many reasons. The laws also lack any timeframe in this regards. Thanks to the lack of required work force in concerned departments and lack of innovation, motivation and dedication in the available work forces.

In addition, lack of skill of the potential migrants is a huge challenge. It is empirically proved that skills of the migrant workers could significantly contribute to reduce their vulnerabilities.

It is reported that 50 percent of our labour migrants are unskilled; and in total 66 percent are reportedly semiskilled.

In case of Philippines, 58 percent of the migrants are skilled where as 9.6 percent are professionals, and 32.4 percent is unskilled.

That is why, Philippines, in 2008, earned US$ 33 billion as remittance sending fewer number of migrants compared to us.

Therefore, Bangladesh needs a comprehensive approach to enhance the skills of the potential migrants including setting standards for those involved in such trades in comparison with global need and demand.

Protection of the Migrant Workers

The Constitution of the country guarantees for an “equal protection of law” for all citizen. The migrants are citizens at the same time.

The major legal instrument, the Emigration Ordinance, 1982 (complemented by three Rules in 2002), does not have sufficient scope to protect the rights of the migrant workers in case of violations of their rights.

There is lack of remedial measures and activities due to “narrow provision” in related laws, and also lack of understanding and training on other alternative laws.

Therefore, there is a growing acknowledgement for adoption of a comprehensive legal framework to regulate the sector efficiently (i.e. along with a law penalizing human trafficking in the form of labour migration).

The number of victims should not be an issue; if a single individual is exploited in the migration process that deserves attention and actions of all concern. And state is primarily obligated to respond and to take actions to ensure protection and prosecution of the perpetrators.

The reported corruption by those who are managing and running the migration activities needs to be intervened and investigated properly.

This is allegedly happening in processing recruitment order, issuing clearances and completing other formalities.

Bangladesh also did not ratify the major human rights treaty dealing with the migrants’ rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990 (the Convention).

The country has signed it on 7 October 1998, though the Law Commission had recommended for its ratification.

Tough migrants are contributing hugely to the exchequer through their hard-earned remittances, however, they are apparently not getting due protection from the state in terms of safeguarding their rights (i.e., right to life, right to personal security, freedom from exploitation etc).

There are likely apparently, lack of political will of the successive governments, lack of legal and administrative mechanisms, and reported indifferent attitudes of the concerned officials are held responsible.

According to recent press reports, the President of Indonesia has formed an investigation committee and taken a tough position following death of a female migrant worker in Saudi Arabia from his country (The Daily Star, 20 November 2010, page no. 7).

Unfortunately, we hardly see any strong urge for a proper investigation in case of the so-called accidental or unnatural death of Bangladeshi-origin migrants.

As reported, during the period from 2002 to 2008, 12,307 death bodies of migrants have been sent to Bangladesh.

The year-wise breakdowns are 788 in 2004, 1,248 in 2005, 1,402 in 2006, 1,673 in 2007 and 2,237 in 2008. However, the number jumped up to 1,044 from the period between January 2009 and May 2009, according to an article by Md. Abu Raihan and S. M. Mostafa Kamal in the January 2010 issue of BIISS Journal.

Respective researchers and activists believe that the actual number of the so-called accidental or unnatural deaths of Bangladeshi-origin migrants would be higher than which are documented or come to public.

The reasons hold responsible for those deaths included job insecurity, tensions at workplace, and poor, unhealthy and risky working conditions among others. The average age of the dead migrants are estimated between 25 and 30 years.

The foreign employers allegedly reported those dead migrants as “illegal workers” to avoid their responsibilities. This deprived the respective families to get due compensation from the respective employers, the article mentioned.

The abuses and exploitations in the process of migration (at home, transit and destination countries) are going on. The types of exploitations include- deception, coercion, arbitrary confinement, illegal detention, deprivation of right to life and personal security, deprivation of dignity, deprivation from right to work and earn, sexual exploitation, deprivation of right to safe migration. Sufferings and experiences of some of the victims tantamount to that of the victims of trafficking, as this writer documented.

There are nearly 800 Recruiting Agencies (RA), who are also failing to contribute in protecting the rights of the migrants.

We are very much focused on the total amount of the remittances earned annually; however, unfortunately, we are not focusing on the individual exploitations and violations of rights of an individual migrant. That is why there is need to make a balance between the two.

Though the Constitution of the country guarantees equal protection of law, and freedom from all forms of exploitations, unfortunately, those guarantees are not working in case of sufferings of the migrant workers. The respective state machineries are failing in this respect. The National Human Rights Commission should take note of that.

Way Forward

As mentioned earlier, there is a lack of effective legal framework and non-implementation of the existing ones to regulate the migration sector.

However, in the name of adopting a new law, we should not go for so-many complex provisions, which prescribe, for “heavy-handed authority” or “other structure” and thus go for creating so many layers in the judicial system. Rather, we should focus on how we could go for implementation of the existing legal frameworks effectively along with look for an appropriate amendment.

Bangladesh should also ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of the Migrant Workers and Members of their Family, 1990. However, merely, ratification would not bring any benefit unless it’s very provisions and spirits are translated into the national legal framework and implemented.

The Government should go forward with its own vision and priority rather than to fall in the “trap of projects.” It should draw up short and long-term strategies and for their implementation. It should have a well coordination among various ministries and departments.

Government should not sit idle on the duplication of so-called studies and researchers. It should review the already done studies and review the viability of recommendations with an aim to implementation.

Immediately, the Government should allocate required financial and other resources for better management and governance of the sector, deploy required human resources and enhance their capacity and skill, amending obsolete legal framework and their proper implementation.

Government should also make effective partnership with private sector including NGOs in awareness raising and skill training. For this, best practices should be promoted and replicated. In this regard, I would like to refer to the awareness programme on safe migration undertaken by BRAC, which has covered 1.7 million migrants and their family members over four years.

Given the importance of the sector, there is a dire need to establish a center of excellence, devoted to training, research, publication and advocacy on migration related issues at national, regional and international level.

In addition, a high-level authority under the Office of the Prime Minister should work to bring coordination among respective ministries and departments.

There should be initiatives to incorporate migration related courses at our mainstream education from higher to university levels (i.e., as part of social science, human rights and legal course).

Curriculum of specialized training institutes should introduce migration issues in their curriculum. That would contribute immediately to have a pool of government officials and other practitioners to manage, bargain, and negotiate activities effectively related to migration sector.

I believe immediate implementation of those measures could boost safe migration and remittances, and to protect rights of the individual migrants.

*The is an slightly edited version of a paper presented at a seminar organized by BRAC on 12 December 2010 in Dhaka.

Uttam Kumar Das, Ph.D., is a Human Rights Lawyer specializing in migration issues. He is admitted as an Advocate (Attorney) in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and currently serving with the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) as Deputy Director. However, opinion expressed here is author’s own. His contact: uttam@sails-law.org.