Preventing enforced disappearances requires institutional reform, not just legal changes: Asif Nazrul
“Bangladesh is now in a changed environment achieved through many sacrifices and struggles. To make this change sustainable, ensuring justice for enforced disappearances is essential,” he says
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul has said enforced disappearance is a crime even more heinous than murder, stressing that preventing such acts requires not only legal reform but also institutional reform.
"Bangladesh is now in a changed environment achieved through many sacrifices and struggles. To make this change sustainable, ensuring justice for enforced disappearances is essential," he made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the opening session of a daylong workshop at Hotel Amari in the capital's Gulshan today (25 October).
The workshop, titled "Ensuring Justice: The Role of the Judiciary in Addressing Enforced Disappearances", was organised by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Dhaka.
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Addressing members of the judiciary, the adviser said, "Judges must play a courageous and fair role in ensuring justice for cases of enforced disappearance. The neutrality and firm stance of the judiciary will one day eradicate the culture of disappearance from Bangladesh."
Commission's Chairman, retired justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury presented the keynote paper at the workshop, saying collective cooperation among the judiciary, law enforcement agencies and human rights organisations is a must to stamp out the culture of enforced disappearances.
During the workshop's working session, participants discussed issues such as evidence collection, witness examination, application of human rights standards, and ensuring accountability in the judicial process related to disappearance cases.
Several key recommendations were proposed, including the formation of a permanent commission for the prevention of enforced disappearances, drafting a dedicated law against enforced disappearances, establishing an independent investigation agency under the judiciary, creating a monitoring cell to resolve complex cases, enhancing public awareness, providing specialised training for judges, ensuring psychological and legal support for victims, offering compensation and rehabilitation, and amending anti-terrorism, arms, and explosives laws as necessary.
Other suggestions included simplifying online general diary (GD) filing, prioritising the disposal of identified cases, improving victims' access to magistrates and judges, empowering magistrates to dismiss false cases, and strengthening information-sharing mechanisms between the judiciary and the commission.
Commission's member retired High Court Division judge Md Farid Ahmed Shibli, Law and Justice Division Secretary Liaquet Ali Molla and senior human rights adviser at the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office in Bangladesh Huma Khan, also spoke at the workshop.
The event was moderated by another member of the Commission Nabila Idris, a BRAC University teacher.
Ninety individuals, including judges of different courts and tribunals and trainees participated in the workshop.
The session was conducted by Commission Member Dr Nabila Idris, with about 90 judges and judicial officers from various courts and tribunals participating in the daylong programme.
