FORUM-ASIA wrote this letter expressing our
deep concerns over the NGO Affairs Bureau’s refusal to extend a human
rights training and advocacy project proposed by Odhikar, a local human
rights organisation in Bangladesh.
FORUM-ASIA wrote this letter expressing our
deep concerns over the NGO Affairs Bureau’s refusal to extend a human
rights training and advocacy project proposed by Odhikar, a local human
rights organisation in Bangladesh.
Your
Excellency,
The Asian Forum for Human Rights
and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a membership-based regional human rights organisation, writes this letter expressing our
deep concerns over the NGO Affairs Bureau's refusal to extend a human rights training and advocacy project
proposed by Odhikar, a local human
rights organization in Bangladesh.
The
project's activities include advocacy on criminalizing torture, establishing a tribunal against torture, and organizing
roundtable discussions on torture-related issues. It also has campaign
programmes advocating Bangladesh to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention
against Torture (OP-CAT). For your kind attention, we herewith provide the
details of the case background at the end of this letter.
On 3 February 2009 when Bangladesh stood before the Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva, you resolutely stated
that "with regard to the intention
to accede to the OP-CAT,
Bangladesh is currently a party to the treaty and is working to implement its
provisions. The government is considering acceding to the Optional Protocol as
well." We note with regret, however, that the
decision made by the NGO Affairs Bureau on the Odhikar's project certainly does not conform to
this public commitment made by the Government of Bangladesh before the
international community.
We also would
like to draw your attention to the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the
Situation of Human Rights Defenders (A/64/226) submitted to the UN General Assembly in
August 2009, in
which the Special Rapporteur
expressed her concerns that
"many countries have put in place legislation that significantly
restricts the ability of human rights organizations to seek and receive funding,
especially foreign funding." The
Special Rapporteur made a set of recommendations on the issue of access to
funding, among others, that "State should review existing laws in order to
facilitate access to funding and should not require prior governmental authorization
to apply for or receive funding from abroad". As such, FORUM-ASIA reiterates the
recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and urges you to ensure that the
Government of Bangladesh allow
access by NGOs to foreign funding, in this case to funding provided by
Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) in Denmark. The
existing restrictive procedure, which
may limit independence and effectiveness of NGOs, must be reviewed.
The rejection of Odhikar's request to extend its project
would send a wrong signal to the international community that the Government of Bangladesh does
not wish to do away with the practice of torture, which is commonly known to
exist among law enforcement officials in Bangladesh, and would effectively stop
Odhikar from holding the perpetrators of such human rights violations
accountable. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council for second consecutive
term and a party to the UN Convention
against Torture, this does not bode well for
Bangladesh's human rights records,
particularly in the protection of the activities of human rights defenders.
This action by the NGO Affairs Bureau also is in
contradiction with Article 13 of the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders which stipulates
that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with
others, to solicit, receive and utilize resources for the express purpose of
promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms".
Again, we
urge you to take appropriate measures
to withdraw the objection made by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the NGO
Affairs Bureau on this matter.
Sincerely,
Mr. Yap Swee Seng,
Executive Director
Asian Forum for Human Rights & Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Cc: H.E Ms. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister
Mr. Sahara Khatun, Minister of Home Affairs
Mr. Shafiq Ahmed, Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Mr. Mustak Hassan Md. Iftekhar, Director General, NGO Affairs Bureau
Mr. Md. Abdul Hannan, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva
Mr. A.K. Abdul Momen, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York
Ms. Margaret Sekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
Background
Information on the Case
On 20 November 2008, Odhikar
submitted a project
proposal entitled "Human Rights Defenders Training and Advocacy Program in Bangladesh"
to the NGO Affairs Bureau under the Prime Minister's Office,
along with the budget and prescribed government forms. The project was to be
funded by the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) in
Denmark as part of its European
Union funded OP-CAT project. The proposal was sent to the
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry
of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs by the NGO Affairs Bureau for their
comments. After a long and
tense wait of five months, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary
Affairs finally gave its approval through
the NGO Affairs Bureau and the project commenced with RCT
funds.
On 31 August 2009, however, Odhikar received a letter dated
17 August 2009 from the NGO Affairs Bureau informing the organization that the
Ministry of Home Affairs had objected to the project and thus decided to cancel
the project. No
valid reason was given on the letter
as to the Ministry's objection. In response to the cancellation order,
Odhikar filed a writ petition (No. 6550/2009) to the High Court Division of the
Supreme Court of Bangladesh, consequently, on 11 October 2009, the High Court
Division of the Supreme Court ruled against the government and stayed the NGO
Affairs Bureau's order. Odhikar's project thus resumed and continued until its
completion date on 31 December 2009.
After 31 December 2009, the European Union approved to
extend Odhikar's anti-torture project up until the end of March 2010.
Therefore, the RCT requested Odhikar to extend its project to March 2010. On 17
January 2010, Odhikar submitted its renewal request of the
project to the NGO Affairs Bureau for the three-month extension. However, on 11
February 2010, the NGO Affairs Bureau issued a letter refusing the extension of
Odhikar's project. The NGO Affairs Bureau claimed that its refusal to allow the
extension of the project is based on the objection of the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
