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

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.

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

Law Letter: On legal education and research*

Legal education in Bangladesh has been facing a pity condition. Though we are producing a huge number of law graduates every year, however, majority of them are having under-qualified or non-qualified in terms of their legal knowledge, research, analytical, and presentation skills and competitiveness in a globalized legal profession.

The frustrating situation has been [is] better described as a “disastrous situation” by none other than the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and a renowned Law Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman in a recent interview with me.

This downwards trend in legal education have been contributed by the obsolete and archical curriculum, traditional teaching and examination methods, lack of practical and clinical aspects in the curriculum, huge gap in relations between teachers and students, teachers' engagement in out-side activities (other than own institutions), lack of interest, motivation, opportunity and skills for research and publications.

The scenario of legal research is at pity stage as well. A handful of law schools at public and private universities offer courses on legal research and writing. However, those also lack of standard and quality due to lack of resources (i.e., library materials, Internet faculties etc), skills and expertise of the respective faculty members. The private law colleges which are producing the majority of law graduates don't offer similar courses. That is why a great number of lawyers (and future judges) are coming from there with out skills in legal research and writing. These skills are taught at law schools even in countries like India and Nepal as well.

Our faculty members are coming back with education and degrees in the developed countries, however, they are not taking any initiative to introduce best practices out of their knowledge and learning.

The journals published by law schools at public universities (not regular in publication) do follow a principle of “limiting knowledge.” For example, the Journal of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dhaka accepts articles only from their respective faculty members. This is also true for other public universities which hardly happens in the universities in other countries.

When a journal is supposed to explore and disseminate new knowledge on a given subject, how come it will probe its standard while there is no competitiveness in selecting and reviewing articles independently. Who will give a guaranty that only teachers could write “best articles”? This so-called journals are also not publicly available as I experienced.

Given my recent affiliation for a year [as] a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School and Human Rights Center in Minneapolis, U.S.A., I found that three of their journals are being edited and published by only students (appointed by the schools on a rotation basis) alongside two others by faculty members, and two more by jointly by faculties and students. Those are coming out on a scheduled dates over the years incorporating articles selected on its originality, analysis, quality and contribution. They hardly bother about whether the author is a teacher or students, or a practicing lawyer. The same I found at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, India.

Here, our professional, research and training institutions are also lacking in terms of quality research and publications. The Bangladesh Bar Council and Law Commission neither have research and publication projects nor journals. The Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) had its last issue of the biannual publication, Bangladesh Journal of Law in 2007. Though the Judicial Administration and Training Institute (JATI) has its own journal however, its lacks professionalism and quality in publishing a research journal.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das
LL.M. (Minn., U.S.A.), Ph.D.
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh

*Originally appeared in The Daily Star, "Law & Our Rights" Section, 12 November 2010; link: http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2010/11/02/letter.htm

Professor David S. Weissbrodt talks on Human Rights Education

Professor David S. Weissbrodt (right) is with Dr. Uttam Kumar Das.

Interview:

Human Rights should be integral part of legal education

- Professor David Weissbrodt

By DR. UTTAM KUMAR DAS

It has been a blessing for me to be a student of Professor David S. Weissbrodt.

He had been my Faculty Mentor for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program for the year 2009-2010 at the University of Minnesota Law School (UMNLS) in Minneapolis, U.S.A.

I was in the Programme from August 2009 through May 2010. Apart from that he had been the Lead Faculty for the courses on International Human Rights Law and Immigration Law which I have studied there. Also he was my Supervisor for an Independent Research Project.

This gave me a rare opportunity to listen to his scholarly lectures, interact on contemporary legal and human rights issues, and at the time of social gathering even to share our personal ideas as well. I was amazed how a scholar of highly repute like him is so simple and humble while meeting or talking to others, even to junior students.

Professor Weissbrodt has been a legend for his human rights activism, teaching, research and publications.

He is presently the Regent Professor and Fredrickson and Byron Professor of Law at the UMNLS. He was appointed in 2005 as the first Regent Professor at the UMNLS where he joined as a Faculty back in 1975. Professor Weissbrodt is also the Founder and Co-Director of the Human Rights Center at the UMNLS. He helped to establish the Human Rights Library (which is accessible in online as well).

Professor Weissbrodt attended Columbia University and London School of Economics. He earned his J.D. (Juris Doctor) from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall). After graduation, he clerked for Justice Mathew O. Tobriner of the California Supreme Court. He was also in law practice with the law firm, Covington & Burling.

Professor Weissbrodt was the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the rights of the non-citizens for 2000-2003. He also served as a member of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights from 1996 to 2003, and was elected the Chairperson of the Sub-Commission for 2001-2002. He was elected Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the U.N. Trust Fund for Contemporary Forms of Slavery in 2008. He has been a Member of the Board since 2005.

He has represented and served as an Officer or Board Member for numerous human rights organizations like Amnesty International, the Advocates for Human Rights, Center for the Victims of Torture, International Human Rights Internship Programme, Readers International, and International League for Human Rights.

Professor Weissbrodt has been a visiting Faculty to a number of universities and institutes in the Europe, Asia and Australia. He had been a Public Member for 1991-1993 of the U.S. Delegation (in President Bill Clinton’s Administration) to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. He is the lead author of the widely consulted and referred book, International Human Rights: Law, Policy and Process (LexisNexis, Fourth Edition 2009).

Following is the excerpt of an interview with this eminent and widely published Professor (which was taken on 11 March 2010 at his office at the UMNLS in Minneapolis, U.S.A.):

What did prompt you to take Human Rights as an area of work?
Professor David S. Weissbrodt (DSW): My father was involved in activities promoting rights of American Indians. That prompted me to work in the area of human rights.

After graduating I had the opportunity to attend a summer programme on human rights at the University of California at Berkeley (UCLB). I also did a clerkship with Justice Mathew O. Tobriner of the Supreme Court of California for two years. (Clerkship involves working for a judge for legal research and drafting judgments among others; it is a paid job for law graduates in the U.S.A.). Then, the UCLB offered a fellowship and placed me at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. I was assigned to research events in the then East Pakistan following the movement for the liberation. After a year I returned back to the United States.
That was the early days of the human rights movement in the U.S. I worked for a law firm for three years. At the same time I helped to establish chapters of the Amnesty International in Washington D.C. and Minneapolis.

How did you come to Human Rights Education?
DSW: I joined UMNLS in 1975 and subsequently introduced Human Rights Law in the curriculum and I started to teach. At the same time I was doing other work; some other colleagues and friends also joined me in this work. We introduced the International Human Rights Internship Programme. Along with Attorney Sam Heins we established the Minnesota Lawyers International Committee for Human Rights in Minneapolis, which is now called the Advocates for Human Rights, an international human rights organization known for its own work. We also established the Center for the Victims of Torture (CVT) in Minneapolis.
In 1988, we established the Human Rights Center at the UMNLS. The Center is now renowned for its education, training, advocacy, research and publications on human rights issues. It hosts s a group of Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows working on legal and human rights issues. This Humphrey Law programme is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Center also runs a Human Rights Education Programme and the Midwest Human Rights Fellowship Programme among other activities. The Center has become a platform for human rights academics, researchers, practitioners, and activists.

What is the need of Human Rights Education?
DSW: Study of Human Rights should be an integral component of a full-fledged legal education. It also makes a valuable contribution to a variety of disciplines like sociology, anthropology, gender studies, political science, and medical fields – among others.
Knowledge of Human Rights principles, norms and institutions is an indispensable aspect of understanding the inter-relationship between states, as well as between states and those persons within their territories and under their control. The subject of Human Rights deals with many concerns that also are the focus of national civil rights laws. Especially, law students and lawyers who expect to practice civil liberties and civil rights law should study Human Rights.

How does a Human Rights Lawyer contribute?
DSW: A human rights lawyer could play a great role in society. Human rights lawyers could work as a catalyst for promoting and protecting human rights. They could work in drafting laws incorporating human rights principles and implementing them. Also, they could contribute to professional education and training on human rights.
A human rights lawyer, if qualified and capable, could also work beyond his or her national boundaries – at regional and international levels.

How do you evaluate the role of the UN with regard to human rights?
DSW: The UN has been most successful in establishing human rights standards. It drafts standards for promotion and protection of human rights; some of them have become treaties.

Any weakness in UN’s role?
DSW: The UN has been less successful in developing implementation mechanism. It is in some ways counter-intuitive that governments would develop forceful implementation measures vis-à-vis their own compliance with human rights standards.
Sometimes the agency misses its target as the member states have their political, economic and regional allies, friends and interests.
However, we all have to work to make the world body a success one. We also need to be patient.

What about human rights situation in the U.S.A.?
DSW: The United States has taken a leading role in promoting and protecting human rights globally. In this regard, names of Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt should be mentioned.

What about the Bush (Junior) era?
DSW: That era was not consistent with the human rights tradition of the United States. There had been arbitrary detention, torture, extra-ordinary rendition etc.
However, it is understandable that the Bush Administration was responding to the terrorist attack on the United States. But the activities of the Bush era have diminished credibility of human rights work as a whole.

What is the impact of that mistreatment?
DSW: No government is perfect. Those violations of human rights in the U.S. will definitely have negative impact on the other parts of the world. However, we have to join hands to overcome the violations in the U.S. and elsewhere.
As a scholar and activist I have been critical of the human rights treatment during the Bush era.

What about the performance of the Barack Obama Administration with regard to human rights?
DSW: This administration is taking some steps to overcome wrongs of the previous era. Some good people are being appointed in the office.

The interviewer is an Advocate (Attorney) at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and specializes in International Human Rights Law. He is also the Deputy Director at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS), Dhaka. E-mail: udas1971@gmail.com.