HR bodies mum over boat people

Sagar Biswas :Country’s human rights organizations, which are often seen very much vocal over the trifling issues, have remained apparently mum about inhuman condition of illegal migrants abandoned by the human traffickers at Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.International agencies and human rights bodies, including the United Nations, have already expressed grave concern over the trapped Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants, and urged the concerned governments in the region to take effective measures. But Bangladesh government seems keeping silent while human rights organizations are not raising enough voice to save the drowning people in the sea. However some rights bodies are not ready to accept the blame. “Who says we are not vocal? Of course, we have raised voice against the human trafficking. It seems, you didn’t notice my concern about the issue,” Sultana Kamal, Executive Director, Ain o Salish Kendra, expressed her annoyance while talking to The New Nation on Thursday night.She urged the concerned ministries and related agencies to take effective steps to solve the migrant problem.  Salma Ali, Executive Director of Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association, said that her organisation could not raise voice due to absence of ‘fact finding report’.”We are preparing a fact finding report. Whenever it will reach to us, we will take strong stance about the issue,” she said explaining the reason behind the silence over the human trafficking. She, however, laid emphasis on implementation of existing law in this regard. “We have a comprehensive law. But it needs regulations to implement the law. It’s a matter of great regret that we haven’t prepared the regulations till the date. And so, the human trafficking in the name of unsafe migration is going on unabated,” she noted. Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh [TIB] said, “We didn’t make any statements over the issue due to lack of accurate data and information. At present, we have no concrete research on this sector.”The TIB executive categorically blamed the law enforcing agencies including BGB and Coast Guard for their failure to tackle the trafficking of poor people. “The related ministries and other government organizations are also responsible as they failed to implement the laws,” he said.Interestingly, the bosses of some other human rights organizations like National Human Rights Commission, Odhikar and Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation refrained from making any comment despite repeated attempts through their cell phones. On May 19, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], OHCHR [Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights], International Organisation for Migrants [IOM] and SRSG for Migration and Development in a joint statement urged the concerned governments to conduct search and rescue at sea, disembarkation, and protection of the human rights of refugees and migrants now imperative to save lives in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. In Southeast Asia, more than 88,000 people have made the dangerous voyage by sea since 2014, including 25,000 who arrived in the first quarter of this year alone, the statement said.