Civil society representatives at a roundtable on Saturday said that the United States has been seen using the human rights issue as a strategic tool where it is vocal for the rights of one particular group of people and turns a blind eye to violations in states more friendly to it.
Editors Guild Bangladesh organized the roundtable at Dhaka Gallery in the capital, moderated by Editors’ Guild President Mozammel Babu.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam at the meeting said that the human rights issue is not any small matter. In spite of this, a country must ensure the other basic needs of its people, like food, shelter and clothes. He said that the law enforcement agencies are being educated regarding human rights and those who are very vocal about it now are not even close to Bangladesh’s success in protecting human rights in the past five decades.
International relations analyst Dr Amena Mohsin said that the US says a lot of things about human rights but the world has seen it using the issue as a strategic tool. The US is very proactive in some cases and slow to react to other selective incidents. Therefore, there will always remain questions regarding its own actions, she added.
Human rights activist and lawyer ZI Khan Panna said that protecting basic rights are at the core of human rights. Therefore, if such rights are violated, it can be said that the country has deviated from the ideology of the Liberation War.
The Daily Bhorer Kagoj Editor Shyamal Dutta, who is a presidium member of the Guild, said that Bangladesh was born to protect the human rights of the people, adding that the definition of human rights violation is different for different countries. Such violations are seen more or less in every country.
Major General (retd) Golam Helal Morshed, a security expert, said that there is a saying, "Your freedom ends where my nose begins", and it is an effective definition of human rights. “If we can remember the saying then we won’t have much need to talk about human rights,” he said.
Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, questioned the capacity of those who prepare human rights reports in the US. He said that the US – by making a report – has been focusing on different issues regarding human rights as per its wish. He said that the US often makes mistakes in understanding the difference between human rights and law and order in a country.
Nijera Kori Coordinator Khushi Kabir, in her remarks, said that human rights violations can be seen in every country and Bangladesh is not out of its purview.
Prof Sadeka Halim, former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Dhaka University, spoke about views of the political parties regarding human rights in the country. She said that it is important to understand the role of the country in protecting the rights of its people.
