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Human Rights in Bangladesh

602258 Group 4

MUIC Preparation Center for Languages and Mathematics

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Human rights in Bangladesh still exist or not?

Human rights, the rights that everybody in this world has and no one can take away from

you. The United Nations has defined the human rights is "Human rights are right inherent to all

human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color,

religion, language, or any other status (Pearson, 2015)". The idea of human rights started widely

in 1941, after Franklin D. Roosevelt's, or FDR, the president of United State of America on that

time speaking to congress for convince them to support United Kingdom that going to lose in the

World War 2 and fight against the Nazi Germany by explaining the human right that include the

four freedoms which contain freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and

freedom from fear (Tsedendemberel, 2017). The four freedoms have been a standard and iconic

example of equality of life that everyone must have anywhere in the world. However, in

Bangladesh, The plight of the Rohingya people has become a major issue and international news

after a riot between Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist broke out at Myanmar in 2012. The

effect caused mass migration of Rohingya refugees around Southeast Asia within Bangladesh as

a neighbor country of Myanmar where the media expression is still limited by a government that

controls the role of media. Bangladesh has been facing issues with freedom from fear and

freedom of speech as a major issue in this country.

FDR has defined the freedom from fear as "A world-wide reduction of armaments to

such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act

of physical aggression against any neighbor anywhere in the world (Roosevelt, 1941)." The

freedom from fear issue still exist around the world and the great example that could be

explained is Rohingya. Rohingya, A group of Muslim people who has been living in Arakan

state since the 8th century which becomes a part of Myanmar on present days. In the 19th
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century, Myanmar became a colony entity of British empire after Myanmar lost the Anglo-

Burmese war. Workers around British India were moved to Myanmar for building railways from

Myanmar across to China, and other infrastructure projects (Al-Mahmood, 2016). In the second

world war, Japan invaded Myanmar and putting out the British empire, but in 1945 when world

war 2 was ending, the British helped Myanmar to be liberated from Japanese occupation with

General Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. However, throughout this period the

Rohingya felt unfulfilled by the British since they denied to focus on the autonomy of Arakan

state (Al-Mahmood, 2016). In 1948, Myanmar declared the independence from the British

empire, this is a start point of Rohingyas conflicts. After Myanmar became independent, they

used the military to rule the country, many rights of Rohingya became limited such as being laid

off from the government jobs, cannot vote, and the new citizen act denies Rohingyas as

citizenship of Myanmar (Al-Mahmood, 2016). The worst thing that every human could face on is

they have no nationality, no place for work, and no place to living in which against all the basic

needs. Around 1990s many Rohingyas are evacuated from the Military junta to Bangladesh,

where there were estimated around 200,000 Rohingyas living illegally (Pagani, 2016). The crisis

of Rohingyas starts after the year of military junta out of the position in 2012, the riot between

Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim causing mass immigrant across Southeast Asia and

Bangladesh and later become the front page newspaper around the world. The Rohingya has

been treated unfairly for a long time, Compatriots have become their enemies, and their

homeland is not their home anymore.

The issue of Rohingya spread virally in the news and the internet. The news in

Bangladesh also tries to focus on and report the issue of Rohingya situation the across the world.

Nonetheless, the government still control the media every single article that is going to be
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published which is directly against the freedom of speech where it stands for. To make it clearer

a real event happened in Bangladesh, when journalists were reporting against the government,

the government officers come through and shut down the station. The Diganta TV station was

shut down in the middle of a broadcast on the news about the crackdown of anti-government

over the past year ("Bangladesh freedom of speech in question", 2014). According to Reports

Without Border (2017), the rank of world press freedom that Bangladesh received is 146 out of

180 countries. The main reason is the censorship that the government controls the news and

unfair justice of reporter who was murder because they criticized about religion. The media

legislation in Bangladesh limits the editor to doing their duty.

The effect of media law in Bangladesh affects not only journalists, but also the citizens.

In 2015, the government was blocking the internet around the country's borders. A couple

minutes later, the internet was back up again, but the social media such as Facebook, Twitter,

and other still could not be accessed. The reason that government decided to block was supreme

court to design uphold the death penalty of two men who were suspected of war crimes

(Colhoun, 2015). In 2015, 4 bloggers in Bangladesh were killed while getting back to their home

after they are criticized religion, 2 years ago there was a list names of bloggers who were the

target of radical groups and all of these were on the list ("4 bloggers killed in Bangladesh in

2015", 2015). Many people still cannot accept the criticize of the religions because they believed

that no one should criticize the holy religion. Some of them become more aggressive and lead

the nation to riot, in this example is 4 bloggers who are the victim of the lack of freedom of

speech. The effect of ochlocracy or mob rule that treated journalist and media unfairly had led

them become more in danger. The issue of censorship by government is leading citizen to

understand unreal information and get only the news on the government side.
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In conclusion, The major problem of freedom from fear is Rohingya issue which is

happening since Myanmar citizen becoming more nationalist and have tried to eliminate the

Rohingya out of their country which is causing the issue across Southeast Asia and Bangladesh,

The effect of criticizing is sensitive especially regarding government, religion, and politics in

Bangladesh. An activist in Bangladesh might walk through the point of no return because some

people might be tortured or murdered for protesting against the government policy. The limit of

freedom of speech in Bangladesh is also causing the media have to follow on the role of

government control such as the content that journalist going to report. If it is against the law, the

officer from the ministry of information will shut down the station and wait until the government

gives an approval. It is harsh but worth it to get the freedom that everyone deserves to have. The

last article of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Right is the best article to describe

all solutions which is "No One Can Take Away Your Human Rights." (United Nations, 1948).
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References

"4 bloggers killed in Bangladesh in 2015". (2015). 4 bloggers killed in Bangladesh in 2015. CBS

Radio. Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-september-21-

2015-1.3236514/4-bloggers-killed-in-bangladesh-in-2015-parvez-alam-fears-he-s-next-

1.3236529

Al-Mahmood, S. (2016). Timeline: A short history of Myanmars Rohingya minority. The Wall

Street Journal. Retrieved from: https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/12/23/timeline-

a-short-history-of-myanmars-rohingya-minority/

" Bangladesh freedom of speech in question ". (2014). Bangladesh freedom of speech in

question. Al jazeera. Retrieved from:

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2014/08/bangladesh-freedom-speech-media-policy-

20148197537952958.html

Colhoun, D. (2015). Social media censorship in Bangladesh hints at long-term problems for

publishers. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved from:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/bangladesh_social_media.php

Pagani, D. (2016). Rohingya refugees: Hide, run, pay and stay alive. WION News. Retrieved

from: http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/rohingya-refugees-hide-run-pay-and-stay-

alive-891.

Pearson, L. (2015). The history of human rights. Preparation Center for Languages and

Mathematics. Mahidol University International College. Retrieved from:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hjLAgAa5KL1a3jhBqnsg--

CKMOGEwWhfU3nlUAz_Vww/edit
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Reports Without Border. (2017). Bangladesh : Islamist threats and violence. Reports Without

Border. Retrieved from: https://rsf.org/en/bangladesh

Rossevelt, F. (1941). Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The four freedoms. American Rhetoric.

Retrieved from: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrthefourfreedoms.htm

Tsedendemberel, O. (2017) Four freedoms, human rights, and social collapse. Preparation

Center for Languages and Mathematics. Mahidol University International College.

United Nation. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. United Nations. Retrieved from:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf