Position of Human Rights in Bangladesh's Vision 2041: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Human Rights mean right of life, right to liberty, right to equality and right to dignity of a person that are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. The General Economic Division (GED) of Bangladesh Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning has prepared the Perspective Plan 2021-2041 to transform the country from a lower-middle income country to an upper-middle income country by 2031 and a high-income country by 2041. In this perspective plan, the policies and programs enshrined in the vision 2041 shall focus on the development strategies. The ‘Vision 2041’ focuses also on the complete eradication of the absolute poverty, so that the country could step into the threshold of the higher middle-income status by 2031 and would transform itself into a developed nation by 2041. The institutional basis of this plan is fourfold–good governance, democratization, decentralization and capacity building of the people of Bangladesh. The issue of fundamental rights is the most relevant for the inclusive economic development of the country. But the perspective plan shows nothing of human rights issues of the citizenry of Bangladesh, not to speak of the promotion of human rights of the people as a whole irrespective of caste, creed and religion. In Vision 2041, there is no specific way of protecting and promoting the human rights of the citizens. Whereas human rights abuses have been a perennial concern to all since implementation is lagging and state officials involved in gross violations of human rights enjoy impunity. If it is so, growth and development will remain a far cry if there is a systematic violation of human rights by the executive organs of the state.But the perspective plan did not tell anything about the human rights. The perspective plan 2021-2041 contains few lines about the judiciary saying that there is an eternal search for independent, separate, effective, efficient, just, impartial, corruption free, apolitical and victim-friendly judiciary in Bangladesh. But the challenges are case overload, quality of people, poor incentive, litigating public, poor legal education and capacity. Strict enforcement of human rights law in all spheres of life, quick response to any human rights violation to bring the offender to justice, capacity building, legislative support, augmentation of human, material and logistics with digital devices may help to promote the status of human rights. But the perspective plan does not elucidate any aspects which are integral to the inclusive growth of a country like Bangladesh.