Laws in the offing may curb rights

The draft data protection act, the anti-discrimination bill, the new social media and OTT regulations, and the mass media employees bill are meant to protect the rights of citizens, but none will do so, said experts.

Most of these laws and regulations have been formulated without consulting relevant stakeholders, and even those who were involved, their recommendations were not taken, said the experts while speaking at a virtual discussion yesterday.

The discussion titled "The question of citizens' rights in draft laws of recent times" was organised by Nagorik, a rights platform.

These laws were needed, but not in the way they have been formed, they observed.

"There is a clear need for a data protection act. But the question is whether the law being proposed addresses those needs," said Jyotirmoy Barua, a Supreme Court lawyer.

One needs to scrutinise whether the laws were formulated democratically, whether stakeholders were consulted during the process, and whether their recommendations have been included.

"For most of these drafts, we only got to know that these have been formulated when they were already placed in parliament as bills," said Barua.

Tashnuva Anan Shishir, a trans rights activist, pointed out that the anti-discrimination law itself contains discriminatory language, because stakeholder consultations were not accounted for.

"The proposed bill uses the word 'third-gender' to refer to people who are not cis-gender. This word is discriminatory...Were there any trans people in this committee?"

Shale Ahmed, the executive director of Bondhu, a gender rights organisation, said their recommendations had been taken but "operated on".

According to the provisions of the anti-discrimination act, anyone encountering discriminations will have to go through a period of at least 195 days just to get a verdict, pointed out Barua.

Filmmaker Belayat Hossain Mamun spoke about how over-the-top platforms were a way out from a repressive censorship regime and how the new regulations will completely clamp down on them.

"In the past, during stakeholder consultation sessions while the laws were being formed, the government did not take our recommendations," said Hossain.  He said that all paths for the industry to flourish are being blocked.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission also produced a set of regulations to govern the social media.

Speakers said the provisions are such that it becomes apparent the government is eager to identify those who are critical of it.

Abdullah Al Mamun, a Rajshahi University professor, asked, "We have so many laws to scrutinise the digital space, but why do we not see them being implemented to protect our rights?"

About the mass media employee bill, Jyotirmoy Barua said that with such laws, journalists are being hoodwinked into believing this is for their welfare and for their rights.

"When stakeholders are not consulted in the formation of a law, when the lawmakers do not have accountability towards citizens, [that is when] repressive laws are formed to only serve and protect the interests of the powerful," said CR Abrar, professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka.