Swapan Saha:A citizen of a free and democratic country has the right to have access to information and know everything happening around him/her. It is a fundamental right of every citizen as enshrined in the UN resolution in its very first session in 1946, stating that ‘freedom of information is a fundamental human right.’ The access to information or freedom of expression is the precondition to fulfillment of all other rights in a democratic society.

The developing countries often lag behind in this respect. However, Bangladesh is an exception. In Bangladesh, human rights and press freedom are viewed as indispensable for smooth functioning of democracy. Article 11 and 39 of the Bangladesh constitution guarantee basic human rights including access to information. “The Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed …” writes Article 7 while Article 39 states “…a. the right of every citizen of freedom of speech and expression; and b. freedom of the press, are guaranteed.”

The people of Bangladesh proclaimed the independence on March 26, 1971 through a historic nine- month bloody war against the Pakistani occupation army for achieving independent and sovereign People’s Republic of Bangladesh. At least three million people got killed and nearly half a million of women lost their dignities in 1971 to liberate the country.

The preamble of the Bangladesh constitution is the historical undertaking to secure justice and empowerment for every citizen in many dimensions: political, social and economic. It writes: “further pledging that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to realise through the democratic process to socialist society, free from exploitation-a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens.”

Protection of human rights is one of the fundamental principles enunciated in the Bangladesh constitution drafted in 1972. Right to live, right to property, right to health, and right to education have been enshrined in the constitution as fundamental rights of every citizen to protect the civil rights and human dignity.

Bangladesh was liberated under the dynamic leadership of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who dreamt for establishing people’s legitimate right of self determination. After the independence, Bangabandhu declared sovereign Bangladesh to have four state principles: democracy, nationalism, socialism and secularism. Constitutional experts across the globe applauded the newly enacted constitution of Bangladesh as one of the finest constitutions in the world.

According to the 1972 post-independent constitution, the country was declared as the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and the form of government was parliamentary, which was imbued with the spirit of full democratic norms along with three other pillars of the nascent democracy of the newly born Bangladesh.

However, the journey of new democratic country with the excellent constitution was often stumbled, and the country had witnessed military regimes for a long period after the assassination of the country’s founding father. When Bangabandhu was trying his level best to rebuild the war ravaged country, a vested quarter of the army being guided by outsiders killed the Father of the Nation along with most of his family members to cripple the leadership of Bangladesh, and also to hamper the development of the country. Bangabandhu’s two daughters, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, were lucky enough to be survived out of that bloodbath as they were outside of the country on the black night of August 15, 1975. Since the killing of Bangabandhu, Bangladesh’s constitution was scrapped many times by promulgating martial laws by different military rulers from 1975 to 1991.

Ever since got involved in politics in 1981, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been relentlessly fighting to establish a free press and independent judiciary in Bangladesh to protect the human rights of every citizen of the country. During her first tenure as the prime minister from 1996 to 2001, Sheikh Hasina’s government ensured optimum level of press freedom. She has always been media friendly. Prime Minister Hasina came to the office again in 2009 securing more than two-thirds of the seats in the national parliament. This time around, her government has taken several steps to protect human rights and press freedom in Bangladesh. 

Recognizing press freedom as one of the principles of democracy, media in Bangladesh have been given full freedom. All print and electronic media in Bangladesh now enjoy total freedom. Bangladeshi journalists are writing freely; often against the government. The present government firmly believes in press freedom. In the capital Dhaka alone, 129 daily newspapers are currently being published. This figure excludes several hundred weeklies, fortnightlies and other periodicals. There are around 480 newspapers, including 296 dailies, being published across the country.

In 2000, during her previous term, Prime Minister Hasina broke the monopoly of state broadcasting by allowing a private TV channel to broadcast news and current affairs programs. Over the last one decade, over a dozen private satellite television channels and several radio stations launched their operations. Besides, eleven (11) community radios were given permission to broadcast their programs to build freely public opinion on development issues like democracy, good governance, and human rights, anti-corruption, health and women empowerment. Already the country’s first community radio named ‘Lokobetar’ has begun test transmission in the district town of Barguna. The private sector has been investing millions of dollars in the emerging media industry with the country’s expansionary literacy rate. Another 10 private sector TV channels are now in the pipeline to air within this year as the media industry is exercising more freedom.

Last year, the Bangladesh parliament has also launched a new television channel, like the CSPAN in the United States, to broadcast the proceedings of the Bangladesh parliament live when in session. The recent expansion indicates that the current government is committed to establishing the free flow of media and a transparent society.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established on June 2010 under the present democratic government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The establishment of the NHRC is an ample example of the government’s commitment towards human rights agenda. The NHRC is working relentlessly to protect the human rights of each and every citizen of Bangladesh. The Commission has been empowered as an independent body under a new legislation for ensuring the human rights of every citizen. The Commission, consisted of the chairman, two full-time members and seven part-time members drawn from members of the civil society, religious minorities, and ethnic groups, has been functioning as a watchdog against each and every action of the government. The Commission takes stern actions against any act of human rights violation by any organization working in the country including the government agencies.

Recently, Bangladesh has scrapped a provision of “direct arrest warrant” against journalists for writing or saying anything defamatory, a major breakthrough for raising voices by the press. The national parliament of Bangladesh on February 2, 2011 passed a bill eliminating the arrest warrant provision under its Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The British colonial ruler (1757-1947) passed the Criminal Procedure Code in 1898 to prevent journalists from attacking their colonial rule. In the British law (the CrPC 1898) has had provision in issuing direct arrest warrant against anybody including journalists, writers and publishers of any books or newspapers if they wrote or said anything defamatory. The Bangladesh law minister during amending the provision of the CrPC of arrest warrant against journalists in the parliament said that the current government amended the CrPC to give more voices to the journalists. The journalist community in Bangladesh had long been demanding scrapping of the provision, but all previous governments ignored their plea.

In 2009, Bangladesh has also enacted the “Right to Information Act” (RIT) which also facilitates the media to raise its voice without any pressure from the state or from any quarters. Under the law a citizen can seek any information, except from security issues, from the government authorities.

The RTI is expected to create a more open and democratic society. Information can empower poor communities. The easy access to information can create awareness about peoples’ rights and responsibilities of government. Citizens can take part in development projects upon information and shall have the due share and also can ensure balanced development of different regions, and also work for equality among man and woman, rich and poor, people in power and in opposition.

The RTI Act 2009 in Bangladesh has some unique features to guarantee the right of the citizen. As per article 9 of the act, no request shall be summarily rejected on the ground of national security, but if there is any part of the request that is not related to national security it must be disclosed to the citizen who has sought such information. The Act has superseded all prevailing acts including the official Secrecy Act 1923, meaning there is no restriction on free flow of information. Some of the information like life, death, arrest, confinement or release by law enforcing agencies etc. must be disclosed within 24 hours of request by any citizen.

Bangladesh made significant progress in Press Freedom situation; it was stated in a yearly report of Freedom House.

In the Freedom of   The Press 2011 report, US based Freedom House said; most score improvements were noted in Bangladesh, whose media environment benefitted from the licensing of new broadcast outlets and a decrease in case of physical harassment and torture of journalists by the security forces.

This report was released on May 2, 2011 at NUSEAM in Washington DC at a gathering of the World Press Freedom Day celebration. Editors, senior journalists and media practitioners around the World attended the gathering here to mark the Day.

[Swapan K.Saha, Minister (Press),Embassy of Bangladesh]