Civil society members here on Tuesday laid emphasis on taking proper measures to strengthen democratic institutions and protect minorities and indigenous people’s rights and human rights defenders, space for ‘mainstream’ opposition parties.
They expressed concern over the reported irregularities in the upazila elections now being held in phases, extrajudicial killings and disappearances; the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act apart from underlining the importance of ‘genuine dialogue’ among major political parties to hold the next national election in a free, fair and inclusive manner.
The observations were made during a meeting with the visiting delegation of the European Parliament (EP) at Sonargaon Hotel in the city.
Chairperson of the Delegation for Relations with South Asia Jean Lambert, other members of the cross-party EP delegation – John Attard-Montalto (Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), Salvador Sedo i Alabart (European People’s Party), and Niccolò Rinaldi (Alliance of Democrats and Liberals) and Head of Delegation of European Union (EU) to Bangladesh Ambassador William Hanna — were present.
Distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman and rights body Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan, among others, represented the civil society at the meeting.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Debapriya said there has been confusion whether the strong position of the international community remains unchanged even in the post-election period and the civil society members wanted to know about it. “In response, they (EP delegation) wanted to tell us that there has been no change.”
On January 9, the European Union (EU) urged all the political parties to engage in genuine dialogue to hold transparent, inclusive and credible elections, putting the interests of the people of Bangladesh above everything.
“Many might wait until another election is held. But by this time the economy will have to keep functioning with uninterrupted investment and export. It needs to be ensured that the rights of the civil society, media and minorities are protected,” he said.
Debapriya also said the issue of ensuring rights and space for the mainstream opposition party was also given importance at the meeting.
On dialogue, he said they gave general opinion on talks. “But we have doubt whether all are interested in dialogue.”
Iftekharuzzaman said they discussed the EU statement issued after the January 5 elections, and mentioned that the EP delegation is willing to talk how the dialogue can be resumed.
Responding to a question, he said the ICT Act came up for the discussion as an example of barrier to freedom of speech. “We think it’s a black law. Some of its provision needs to be changed. It gives unlimited mandate to the law-enforcing agencies. So, there’s a scope of misusing power.”
The TIB chief also said there have been some examples on how the power can be misused. “So, we want its reforms.”
He also laid emphasis on strengthening the ‘key institutions of accountability’ keeping those free from politicization.
Meanwhile, meeting sources said Adilur Rahman also criticised the government for the ICT Act and claimed that with the ICT Act human rights defenders are being ‘targeted.’
Source: UNBConnect
