CHT: Beyond Narratives

Several blog posts have been written in the recent months since the Sajek incident in CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) followed by two well-publicised fact finding reports. These reports also brought the Kalpana Chakma campaign in the forefront, once again, reviving her cause in the public domain. While activists are mobilising, organising, speaking for justice, the establishment decided to strike again. This week, five more activists including Alakesh Chakma and Ani Bikash Chakma have been picked up by “plain clothes” security personnel. No charges have been filed; no right to an attorney; no one even knows where they have been taken. They simply disappeared. [Update: according to one unverified report, they have been released after three days of detention in an undisclosed location].

Proposed EU Directive with Possible Human Rights Implications

I just came across the news of a proposed European Union Directive which is going to be submitted before the European Parliament on 18 June 2008. This is the very first Directive subjected to the co-decision procedure seeking EU Parliament’s involvement in EU law making, which, quite ironically, was aimed at ameliorating the perceived democratic deficits in the European system. The Directive in question will be dealing with issues of deportation and detention of “illegal” immigrants.

Microcredit, Poverty, and the Merchant of Venice

Without resorting to any research jargon let me start by saying that on a number of occasions I had the opportunity to talk to ‘microcredit’ borrowers. From them, I particularly wanted to know more about microcredit and its effects on their lives. Some of the stories they told, were both enlightening and disturbing. Strangely, these stories reminded me of Shylock, the vicious money lender in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. This post is generally about Microcredit and its uncritical acceptance.

"Responsibility to Protect" and Coercive Aid Intervention

This is an interesting piece on “responsibility to protect” type interventions under international law to deliver post-disaster emergency humanitarian assistance:

Food Price Crisis Triggers Questions about Global Food Security

[by Zachary Sugg at World Resources Institute]

 

Skyrocketing food prices have triggered riots across the developing world and forced the world’s largest food aid agency to confront a $500 million deficit. The media are focused on short-term consequences, but there are also concerns about the long-term forecast for global food security, poverty, and hunger.

Thoughts on "Generation Bangladesh" Article in The Daily Star

[the post is written in first person as an open letter to the article author]

 

Dear Salahuddin,

 

I have recently read this Daily Star article of yours with interest. Otherwise an intriguing piece, I am somewhat at a loss on some of the points. I would only discuss three of them:

 

 

1.

 

You wrote about Generation-B enthusiastically but you did not tell us the values they actually stand for, or the kind of principles they adhere to. You see, “ideologies” or their “baggages” are not necessarily bad things. Nations moved, nations shaked, nations aspired–not always with mobile phones or laptops. For examples do please look at the emerging economies of the last few decades or you may want to go even a bit further back in the history. Just because someone carries a mobile phone and a laptop does not mean that you have a world leader in the making.

Bangladesh Genocide Archive Online: An Appeal

 

Here is the link: www.genocidebangladesh.org

 

Our heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved in this mammoth initiative. A solid contribution indeed; one of the decisive early steps that would take us a long way towards justice for 1971. As said, it is a “continuing and collaborative” project. So in the end it is up to all of us to make sure that this archive excels.

Of Generals and Judges

 

“The High Court giveth and the Appellate Division taketh away.”

 

This week, we observed how another decision of the High Court got over turned by the Appellate Division. We hear, a number of “rogue” benches in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court have become a constant source of embarrassment for the present Caretaker Government. In several recent high profile cases we have noted this cat and mouse game of control versus independence of the higher judiciary. This is how, critics say, the highest court of the country consistently upheld the Caretaker Government’s wishes in the end, in case after case. They quip – ‘the High Court (serving the Law) giveth and the Appellate Division (serving the Caretaker) taketh away.’ The interesting factor common to all these over turned decisions is that in each of them, “the Government always wins in the end.” Statistically, that is very odd.

Hospitality, Dhaka Style: Akhavan, Sloan and Another

“The injustices in the world are so overwhelming, so enraging, that it is unacceptable, indeed immoral, not to fight for justice with every bit of one’s strength.”

Today I have decided to write about the person who made the above statement. His name is Payam Akhavan, the renowned human rights lawyer representing Sheikh Hasina (former Prime Minister of Bangladesh). Last month, he was in Bangladesh on a five-day visit which attracted considerable media attention and controversy. His visit was followed by frantic PR campaigns orchestrated by the Caretaker Government and its civil society allies. Google the internet and you will find it replete with points, protests and spins involving this highly publicised visit. Incidentally, I am familiar with some of Dr Akhavan’s seminal works in the field of Genocide Prosecution and Prevention. I also had the opportunity to meet him in person. Today I would like to share some of my impressions about him and his work (including his involvement in Sheikh Hasina’s trial) which I hope would shed some helpful light on the controversies.

Because of the length of the post, I have divided it as follows:

· Profile of a human rights lawyer: the first impression

· Three embarrassing facts;

· Rebuttal of the spins

· Some concluding observations

Profile of a Human Rights Lawyer: the First Meeting:

Dr Akhavan’s track record as an internationally renowned human rights lawyer is now more than well established. Anyone with genuine interest in ‘war crime trials’ should be familiar with his works. It was sometime in the middle of last year when I bumped into one of Dr Akhavan’s human rights colleagues in a social event who informed me about his possible visit to Bangladesh. The whole thing slowly slipped my mind, until late January this year when I saw him on TV making his very first press appearance in Dhaka. It caught my attention when he made that famous “irony not lost” comment before the journalists, referring to (ab)use of Parliament compound as makeshift prisons for two former Prime Ministers of the country, both democratically elected. Almost coincidentally, a friend drew my attention to a speaker event by Payam Akhavan in Trinity College (Oxford University) co-sponsored by three other Oxford based entities, which I resolved to follow closely. The talk was scheduled immediately after his return from Dhaka, on a Saturday evening (2 February 2008), and my friend was kind enough to give me a blow by blow account of the event later.