Staff Reporter:
Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul yesterday said institutional reforms were required alongside legal ones to prevent enforced disappearance calling the crime worse than murder.
“Not the legal reform alone, the institutional reforms as well are necessary to put an end to the culture of enforced disappearance,” he told the inaugural session of a day-long workshop on the issue at a hotel in Gulshan in the capital.
The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances organized the workshop with assistance of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations.
Nazrul said the courageous and justified role of the judges is essential for the execution of the trial of the enforced disappearances as “the impartial and bold stand of the judiciary will uproot the culture of the enforced disappearance from Bangladesh”.
Commission’s chairman retired justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury presented the keynote paper at the workshop saying collective cooperation among the judiciary, law enforcement agencies and human rights organizations is a must to stamp out the culture of enforced disappearances.
Commission’s member retired High Court Division judge Md Farid Ahmed Shibli, Law and Justice Di-vision Secretary Liaquet Ali Molla and senior human rights adviser at the United Nations Resident Coor-dinator’s Office in Bangladesh Huma Khan, spoke at the workshop.
The event was moderated another member of the Commission Dr Nabila Idris, a BRAC University teacher.
Ninety individuals including judges of different courts and tribunals and trainees are taking part in the workshop.
