Ineffective rights commission will backfire on government: TIB

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman has said imposing an ineffective, government-controlled human rights commission on the people would ultimately prove self-defeating for the government itself.

He made the remarks at a consultation meeting titled "Draft National Human Rights Commission Act 2026: Review and Recommendations by Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRFB) and TIB," held at the TIB office in the capital's Dhanmondi Thursday (July 2).

Iftekharuzzaman said forcing an ineffective, government-controlled commission on the public would be self-destructive for the government, warning that those who fail to make such institutions functional end up creating a "Frankenstein" of their own making. Power, he said, is not permanent, and whichever institution is rendered ineffective through partisan influence today will eventually cause its architects to suffer the consequences.

Presenting a review of the draft National Human Rights Commission Act 2026, Iftekharuzzaman put forward 19 recommendations, saying that failure to implement them would prove the government lacks genuine political will to establish an independent and effective human rights commission in the country.

He said an independent national human rights commission, free from government control, could be formed if commitments made under the BNP's 31-point state reform programme, its election manifesto, and the July Charter were implemented.

Responding to a question, the TIB executive director said those in power in Bangladesh frequently weaken state institutions for short-term political gain, adding that such systematic partisan capture and disabling of national institutions has few parallels even among many authoritarian states worldwide.

Iftekharuzzaman also said "anti-change forces" remained active within the government, noting that such resistance could be political but was often driven more by bureaucratic influence, a tendency he said was reflected in the draft human rights commission law itself.