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1

Law / Justice to rape victims: Still a far cry

« on: January 27, 2021, 10:40:53 PM »

Justice to rape victims: Still a far cry

The inhumanity and savagery by rape and sexual offences are on the peak now. Almost every day newspapers are pouring with the horrifying news of rape, gang rape of children and women. Recently, a disabled girl was gang-raped by six persons in Chandpur. Are we not shocked with the plight of the 6-year-old little girl who went to play with her playmates at the rooftop of a house in old Dhaka and was later raped and murdered by a man and her parents had to discover the dead body soaked with her own blood? Can we forget the ordeal of four women who were confined and gang-raped in Feni, over a long period of six months? Have we forgotten that 8-year-old was gang-raped and killed in Bagura on 26 December, 2020? Do our eyes turn blind when we hear that Puja a little girl from Parbotipur who was raped and brutally injured and she is still not out of danger and dragging on with her ordeal of rape trial with her parents for last 6 years? Do our hearts bleed with the news that the 13-year-old girl from Ullahpara, Sirajganj was gang-raped? Do we remember her portrait that was published in almost all newspapers, where she was hiding her face in her hands in 2001?

Tougher punishment has been enacted very recently for rape cases and cases are being recorded by police on a daily basis. But is there any sign of reduction of incidents of rape? Victims, particularly girl children are left behind to undergo an unending struggle to survive in the society with stigma and blame at very cost of their lives and dignity. When a girl is raped or seduced, there is no immediate civil remedy available to her. She faces complete holocaust and devastation. Many sensitive women or girl often commits suicide after rape.

 The carriage of justice is often misconceived to the ambit of attainment of conviction of the accused only. A non-government report suggests that the existing system of rape trial results with a meager number of 3-4% of convictions leaving 97% in acquittal. How can the State and justice system be content with 3-4% convictions in cases of violence against women? Does it mean that 97% allegations were false and if that be so, what should be the reasons for giving charge sheets in such a staggering number of cases and burdening the justice system for no practical reason?

Here lies the importance of phasing out compensation as well other rehabilitative schemes so that victims of rape and sexual abuses do not feel that they are alienated and neglected by the state and justice system. Without their active participation in the process of justice, it is unlikely that the punishment of criminals can be ensured by the state. Their faith and reliance on justice system must be given the most priority. Further, ending the trial process with acquittal on technical grounds and victims carrying around the stigma, marks and medical proof of treatment and hospitalisation substantiate a huge vacuum or sheer negligence on the part of the prosecution to investigate and lead all evidences properly. Therefore, the state cannot shrug off its responsibility to pay interim compensation in cases where the condition of the victim is critical and/or where victims are dead as a result of brutal rape and torture.

At this point of horrific peak of inhumanity, what should victims of rape do deserve from the state and what role can our apex court, as third pillar of the Constitution, play? "Law should not sit limply, while those who defy it go free and those who seek its protection lose hope". This is what Frank Futer, J opined in Jennison v Baker back in 1972. The true destination lies at the lap of the victims. The jurisprudence of victimology has set its strong hold today that the responsibility of the State does not end merely by registering a case, conducting investigation, initiating prosecution and sentencing an accused. The turning point here was the case of Delhi Domestic Working Women's Forum in which the Indian Supreme Court relying on the Oxford Handbook of Criminology (1994 Edn.) opined that "….Should justice to the victims depend only on the punishment? Should the victims have to wait to get justice till such time that the handicaps in the system which result in large scale acquittals of guilty, are removed? ….How can the tears of the victim be wiped off when the system itself is helpless to punish the guilty for want of collection of evidence or for want of creating an environment in which witnesses can fearlessly present the truth before the Court? Justice to the victim has to be ensured irrespective of whether or not the criminal is punished."

The conventional theory of retribution has undergone a notable sea change, as societies have increasingly felt that victims were being neglected by legislatures and courts alike. Legislations have, therefore, been introduced in many countries providing for restitution/reparation. In the USA, a victim gets compensation from the Federal Crime Victims Fund. It covers lost wages, medical costs, and mental health counseling. In the UK, compensation is provided to victims by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) where victims can apply for compensation ranging from £1,000 to £500,000.

The nest important case was Railway Board v. Chandrima Das, in which the Supreme Court of India held that rape is not a mere matter of violation of an ordinary right of a person but the violation of the victims most cherished right, namely, right to life which includes right to live with human dignity contained in Article 21. In this case the Supreme Court, while the rape case was pending, directed Indian Railway Board to give compensation of Rs. 10 lacs to a Bangladeshi victim who was gang-raped by Indian Railway employees. The Supreme Court further held in Suresh that the responsibility of the State does not end merely by initiating prosecution and even after acquittal the responsibility of rehabilitation of the victim remains. The Indian Supreme Court has taken robust activism by phasing out interim compensation scheme in Nirbahya case and finally in Nipun Saxena (2018) case in which it held that the Gang Rape victims will be compensated from Rs.5 Lacs to Rs.10 Lacs, the rape victim's from Rs.4 Lacs to Rs.7 Lacs, unnatural sex assault victims from Rs.4 Lacs to Rs.7 Lacs depending upon cases and this amount of compensation is to be paid irrespective of conviction or acquittal.

In most developed and developing systems, the judiciary has come forward to fulfill the gap between fast changing society and rigid laws. This is because of the long and time consuming procedure of enactments of laws by legislature. The changes that we have seen in India, both legislative and judicial, are yet to be received and adopted by our judiciary and legislature not only for the best interest of the victims but also for the interest of the justice system and revenue expenditure.

 The writer is Md. Abdul Halim, he is an Advocate of the Supreme Court and Honorary Chairman, CCB Foundation.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/news/justice-rape-victims-still-far-cry-2034017

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Latest developments in Law / Agonising condition of our migrant workers

« on: December 25, 2020, 05:59:09 PM »

International Migrant Workers Rights Day is globally observed on 18 December. Migration is an impactful term drawing increasing attention across the world. Protecting the rights of migrant workers ultimately benefits the state itself. A total number of 7.5 million Bangladeshis are living abroad as migrant workers. The country has ranked sixth among top 20 countries of origin for international migrants.

It has been found by studies that more than 500,000 migrant workers had returned from abroad between 2006 and 2011 , a time period in which 3.5 million had left the nation. In 2014, 426,000 people migrated to work in another country – most often on temporary labor contracts. The number clearly depicts how our migrant workers are working relentlessly to add to our economy. Our GDP is increasing day by day and one of the significant reasons behind this is the remittance. But we are not able to provide them protected rights yet.

According to a report of International Organisation on Migration on returning migrants in 12 districts of Bangladesh, approximately 70% of surveyed migrants who returned from abroad between February and June 2020, are still unemployed. A total number of 29% of respondents indicated they had returned to Bangladesh because they were asked to leave the country they were in, and 23% reported that they were worried about COVID-19 and wished to return to their families. Moreover, 26% of respondents reported that they had returned because their families had asked them to return home for the reason of safety issues, and 9% returned because they were told that the borders were going to be closed and they were worried that they would be left stranded.

Recently, 81 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Vietnam have been detained. In Vietnam, they were detained for anti-state activities. Such detention is violative of article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).   

The migrant workers expulsion without any prior notification is also violative of multiple international instruments. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ensured the rights of the migrant workers. Part III of the International Conventions on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers has ensured the human rights of the migrant workers within its article 8 to article 35. Other legal rights have been protected by article 36 to article 56 of the said convention.

Article 54 of the convention defines equal treatment to the migrant workers which is also interrelated with article 25 and 27 in case of protection against dismissal, unemployment benefits, access to public work schemes intended to combat unemployment, access to alternative employment in the event of loss of work or termination of other remunerated activity. There are also many news of the death of the migrant workers during working in the workplace. Article 9 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers protects the right to life.

For the protection of rights of migrant workers, Bangladesh has enacted The Overseas Employment and Migration Act, 2013, Recruiting Agency License & Conduct Rule 2002, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Policy 2016, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Rules 2017, Expatriate Welfare Board Act 2017, and also established the Migrants Welfare Bank (PKB) for the benefit of migrant workers. But the condition of the migrant workers has not improved much. The Covid-19 pandemic has left them more helpless than ever.

Bangladesh needs to take proper steps to raise awareness among the people so that they might not be cheated by fraudulent and exploitative recruitment agents. Proper training is also very important for the migrant worker so that they can increase their skills. The brokers who deceive vulnerable people looking for employment must be brought before the law. People who want to migrate must register themselves as migrant workers through authorised digital centers. The widespread practice of international conventions and laws to protect the rights of the migrant workers must be ensured. There should be the implementation of Migration Act, 2013 and other bilateral agreements in our country to protect the rights of the migrant workers. 

Afterward, it is to be noted that there are many laws to protect the rights of the migrant workers; we only need to ensure the implementation of the laws. Implementing the laws might be the best way to protect the rights of a migrant worker.

Writer: Mahbub Alam Khan, The writer is a student of law at Daffodil International University.

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National & International Seminars / Protecting Rights of Rivers: Turning intention into action

« on: November 24, 2020, 10:45:31 AM »

In February 2019, the High Court Division (HCD) of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh delivered a landmark decision granting all rivers with 'legal personhood,' declaring all rivers in Bangladesh to have legal protection. The core outcome of the verdict are 17 major directives for addressing river pollution and illegal riverbank development ('encroachment'). This includes barring polluters from running for office, legally empowering the National River Conservation Commission as the 'guardian' of all rivers, and excluding designated polluters from accessing bank loans. University of Oxford with the support of UK Research and Innovation Strategic Priorities Fund has undertaken a project for bi-lingual translation (English-Bangla) of the HCD verdict which was approved by Justice Ashraful Kamal of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh last month. 

Source: The Daily Star, 20 November, 2020
https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/news/protecting-rights-rivers-turning-intention-action-1998201

4

Law / Legal Entity of Rivers

« on: July 17, 2020, 10:21:18 AM »

It has been one year since the HCD of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has declared Turag river as a living entity. There are 17 directives and many observations that have been made by the Court. Specially the one that the State and other concerned departments of the government will comply with this ruling and take necessary steps to save the river from pollution and encroachment. But still we do not see any such steps are taken. Recently though the Uttarakhand Court of India made declaration of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers as legal entity, afterwards they made the declaration void under legal ramifications to abide by the previous order of the Court. Various jurisdictions of this world declared rivers as living entity which may be seen as the legal developments of the environmental law yet there implementation may be a challenge in every jurisdiction.

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Law of Bangladesh / Who owns our laws?

« on: February 17, 2020, 02:35:24 PM »

On June 25, 2019, an editorial of The New York Times was published based on the Georgia v Public.Resource.Org (a case about whether the State of Georgia can assert copyright in its annotated state code). The State of Georgia sued the Public.Resource.Org, a non-profit organisation, for scanning and uploading all volumes of annotated Georgia State Code. This, in fact, triggers a pertinent question - should not the law be made accessible for all, and in a democracy should not the people and people alone own the law? Critically, it touches a serious concern on copyright over ‘public documents’. Relevantly, I found a piece published in Spicy IP, ‘‘Shouldn’t we liberate laws from the clutches of copyright law?’’ by Dr Arul George Scaria, which in turn inspired me to write this piece. Dr Arul, explored three key questions, (a) does copyright exist in Act of the Parliament? (b) if so, who owns it? (c) finally, whether reproduction or publication would be considered as exception to copyright infringement? As I understood, on premise of right to know and access law, he aptly argued that Indian laws should be freed from the barrier of copyright and any reproduction or publication should be considered as exception to copyright infringement. I was wondering about the conditions in Bangladesh and how we could relate the similar narrative to our context.

Section 2(40) of the Copyright Act, 2000 of Bangladesh, delineates that “government work means a work which is made or published by or under the direction or control of … (b) the legislative authority in Bangladesh; (c) any court, tribunal or other judicial authority in Bangladesh’’. Section 30 fixes the term of protection for government work until sixty years from the following year of publication. Thus, laws and judicial decisions of Bangladesh are copyrightable by the government. Section 71 of the said Act outlines certain situations and conditions in which reproduction or publication constitutes copyright infringement. Section 72 lists out number of exceptions to infringement of copyright. As per the provisions of section 72(17), the reproduction or publication of Act of parliament per se without any commentary shall not be treated as exception to infringement of copyright of government. However, this would not be the case for any judgement or order of the court unless it is otherwise provided.

Acts of the Parliament and key judgements of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh are now officially made available online and accessible to all for free. Yet, the dearth of accessible up to date official or translated version of laws and judgements exists despite some paid law reports. How far the judgements of the court can be reproduced or published commercially taking advantages of copyright exemption? Regrettably, we see foreign corporation sells our judgements to us, claims copyright over it and makes money from our law schools and research institutes. The question remains should any commercial gains by the private publishers from copyright exemptions be allowed?

 The US ‘fair use’ or UK ‘fair dealing’ doctrine as transplanted in various jurisdictions of the world prohibits commercial use. It was argued by the publishers in Delhi University Photocopy Case (2016); however, the court exempted the ‘course pack’ as ‘non-commercial use’ based on its nature, scale and impact on the market on one hand and the right to education of the students on the other. In 2017, Arpit Bhargava, a petitioner filed a PIL in Delhi High Court challenging the publication of bare Act by private publishers, infringing government’s copyright and making undue profits? It was also argued that government is under legal obligation to make the laws accessible at reasonable price, if not for free, because citizens have the right to know. Similar arguments may be spelled out in our context which would reasonably include copyrighted commercial use of judicial decisions as well.

Surely, the availability of laws and judicial decisions would be useful for furthering our legal education and research to which our honourable Apex Court expressed concerns and provided guidelines (albeit on maintaining quality of it, in Professor Syed Ali Naki and others v Bangladesh and others, HCD, 2016) and Bangladesh Bar Council and others v A.K.M. Fazlul Kamir and others, AD, 2017). The accessibility of law and judicial decisions will justify the imposition of the maxim ‘ignorantia juris non excusat’ and facilitation of constitutional duties of knowing and observing the laws under article 21 of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Thus, the government should adopt initiatives such as creative commons or digital repository and/or allow private entities to make our laws and judgements accessible for free. Thus. the significant question remains, should not we revisit our copyright regime and liberate our laws?

Writer: Ataul Karim, Senior Lecturer in Law, East West University, Bangladesh.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/news/who-owns-our-laws-1853968

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National & International Seminars / Justice for Rape: Prohibiting Character Evidence in Rape Cases by BLAST

« on: January 22, 2020, 06:51:31 PM »

The Research Dissemination Meeting on 'Justice for Rape: Prohibiting Character Evidence in Rape Cases' is held from 3-5 PM on Monday, 20 January 2020 at Chhayanaut Auditorium (House 72, Road 15/A, Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka 1209) organized by BLAST. This event is part of their 'Rape Law Reform Now Campaign', through which they hope to incite discussion among relevant stakeholders about the urgent need to amend some of our discriminatory and exclusionary provisions on rape. BLAST believes it is important that university students are also part of this discourse. Therefore, around 17 students from Batch 35, the Department of Law, DIU went there as participants of that program under the guidance and supervision of Ferdousi Begum, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Law, DIU. Students enjoyed the discussion.

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Research & Publication / UAP: Call for Papers

« on: August 07, 2019, 12:21:54 PM »

University of Asia Pacific Journal of Law and Policy (ISSN 2518-024) (UAPJLP), Special Issue on Rohingya Crisis

The Department of Law and Human Rights, University of Asia Pacific (UAP) is going to publish a Special Issue on Rohingya Crisis in the University of Asia Pacific Journal of Law and Policy (ISSN 2518-024) (UAPJLP). Original research based articles in law and policy areas are invited for publication in the upcoming issue. You may submit your manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief Email: UAPJLP@UAP-BD.EDU within October 31, 2019.   

For details, you may visit the following links:
1. Guidelines for submission: http://uap-bd.edu/lhr/journal/submission-guidelines/
2. Latest Issue: http://uap-bd.edu/lhr/journal/volume-3-issue-1/

Source: http://uap-bd.edu/lhr/journal/call-for-papers/
 






 

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National & International Seminars / Commercial Exploitation of Outer Space through Satellites

« on: August 07, 2019, 09:52:15 AM »

International Conference on Commercial Exploitation of Outer Space through Satellites: Prospects and Challenges in Green University on 23 August, 2019

Outer Space now has opened boundless opportunity for mankind especially using it commercially. The history began with launching of Telster-1 (first commercial satellite) in 1962. Since then many doors have been opened for the commercial uses of outer space including asteroid mining and space tourism. Space faring countries have already taken many actions to accrue the maximum benefits from outer space. In 2018, Bangladesh launched its first geo-stationary satellite i.e. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 (BS-1) in outer space. As a communication satellite, BS-1 reduced the dependency on foreign satellites for broadcasting, telecommunications and weather forecasting especially during natural disasters. It can prevent shelling out $14 million per year for 34 television channels in Bangladesh which are using MHz bandwidth from foreign satellites. At the same time it can earn $10 million annually from local television channels for satellite communication. Moreover, money earned by renting some of its transponders will also contribute for earing foreign currencies. However, access in outer space and its exploitation is heavy dependent on financial and technological assistance of developed countries. It is often argued that benefits from space exploitation are bagged by space faring countries. Therefore, it becomes very pertinent to measure the effectiveness of international space laws especially for commercial exploitation. Thus the challenges embark on imbalance in fundamental principles of space laws, as the practice does not always recognize the interest of all the countries. The most discussed question are whether the laws are equipped enough to safeguard the interests of non- space- faring countries and what initiatives now need to be taken for ensuring equal and equitable interests of all countries of the world keeping pace with the role of national space legislations etc.

Keeping all these issues in view, Green University of Bangladesh,consecutively second time, is going to arrange the international conference in Space Law on 23 August, 2019. The theme of the conference is "Commercial Exploitation of Outer Space through Satellites: Prospects and Challenges". This conference will provide a multi-disciplinary platform for international and national experts to discuss and learn various aspects of space activity aligned with international space law and policy. Therefore, the conference aims to bring together leading academic and non-academic researchers, legal experts, innovators, investors and students to exchange and share their experiences, concerns and challenges in the field of space law and activity.

Objectives of the conference

To highlight the recent trends of commercialization of outer space.
To focus on the recent development of Commercial Exploitation in Outer Space.
To overview international practice for regulating space commercial activities.
To discuss the possible areas of exploitations in outer space for developing nations
5. To highlight the challenges for developing nations in space activity.
To find out the means of equitable and equal sharing of benefits of space exploration.
Who Should Attend:

The conference is planned for decision makers, technical experts, researchers, educationists and students involved in space law and technology from international, regional, national and local academic institutions, governmental agencies, non-governmental development agencies and also from private industries engaged in space related activities. Experts and professional from space related institutions are welcome to attend.

Call for Papers:

Participants are kindly encouraged to contribute in the conference through submissions of their research abstracts and/or papers on the conference topics as highlighted. High quality original research articles will be published free of charge in an Edited Book or any of the 3 Green University Research Journals i.e Green University Review of Social Science, a peer reviewed international research journal (ISSN 2313-237X), Journal of Green Business School (ISSN 2522-7297); GUB Journal of Science and Engineering (ISSN 2409-0476).

Topics:

The conference will be a blend of presentations by our esteemed resource persons and paper presenters. Topics of interest for submission include the following sub-themes, but are not limited to-

Benefits of Space for sustainable development goals
Commercial exploitation in Outer Space and its legal and technical challenges.
Business prospects through satellite.
Outer Space and developing nations.
Orbital slot and Transponder leasing.
Space Tourism in future global attraction.
National Jurisdiction over outer space for its commercial uses.
Academic and industrial link up in space activity.

Source: http://law.green.edu.bd/2nd-Space-Law-Conference/

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Bangladesh Bar Council / Enrollment as Advocate does not mean the Membership of the Bar Council

« on: August 07, 2019, 09:42:34 AM »

When anybody’s name is entered in the roll of the Bar Council he/ she will be known as a Advocate but not as a Member of the Bar Council. Membership of the Bar Council is quite different thing. This is an elected position. Advocates on the roll elect from amongst themselves 14 persons as Members of the Bar Council for a term of three years. The Government may, in some extraordinary situation, nominate persons to act as Members of the Bar Council.

Source: http://www.barcouncil.gov.bd/

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Research & Publication / International Conference on the Rohingya Crisis in Comparative Perspective

« on: July 02, 2019, 02:31:36 PM »

International Conference on the Rohingya Crisis in Comparative Perspective to be held at Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR), University College London (UCL), London, UK.

Link: https://cgsdu.org/

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National & International Seminars / Certificate course on Genocide and Justice

« on: July 02, 2019, 02:28:47 PM »

The Liberation War Museum is going to organize it's 6th Certificate course on Genocide and justice from July 12. The last date for application is July, 5. Students will get a concession for doing the course. anyone interested may visit the link
http://www.liberationwarmuseumbd.org/

12

Women / Hindu Women's Right in the property

« on: July 02, 2019, 02:22:55 PM »

Dear All

I have published a paper on the Hindu Women's limited Interest in Bangladesh which indirectly is an obstacle to have property rights by Hindu women in the journal of Kathmundu School of Law, Nepal. You may have a soft copy if you are interested through mail.

Thanks.

13

Children / Chaild Marriage Restraint Act, 2017

« on: July 02, 2019, 02:18:38 PM »

Dear All

I have published a paper on Section 19 of the the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017 which indirectly is an obstacle to prevent child marriage in Khustia Islami university, Bangladesh. You may find a soft copy if you are interested through my mail.

Thanks.

14

Research & Publication / ELCOP Call for Papers

« on: May 20, 2019, 05:53:41 PM »

Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP) is going to organize its 20th Human Rights Summer School (HRSS) on “Human Rights and Rebellious Lawyering” in late September  2019 (19th – 30th September, 2019). In line with our twenty years of academic legacy, we are overwhelmed with our visionary activism that inspires us to start the process of publishing “ELCOP Yearbook of Human Rights”, the key scholarly research based reading material of the HRSS.

 We, herewith, welcome scholarly papers from academics, legal scholars as well as law students. We are soliciting unpublished original papers focusing the title of the 20th HRSS for the Yearbook.

Prologue to the 20th HRSS Publication

There is a view that our legal education produces legal mechanics rather than legal architects. The progress of law graduates has thus become central to our legal education. We are saddled with diverse limitations—conventional teaching style, old-fashioned curriculum, inadequate environment of legal research, absence of law clinics, non-simulative learning process and lack of interdisciplinary approach are a few to mention. The outcome is that our law graduates end up becoming litigant lawyers. The approach does not help changing the status quo of rule of law, democracy and human rights. The poor remain poor living under the vicious cycle of poverty and find themselves helpless in fighting the discriminatory legal system.

Human rights lawyering is experiencing multiple prospects and challenges in present days.  ELCOP provides an alternative idea of legal education against the existing dismay and challenges. It wants to produce a law graduate who would sensitize, mobilize, organise the poor to fight their poverty on the one hand, and reshape human rights jurisprudence through innovative justicing, on the other hand. This is what we call “rebellious lawyering”. The proponent of the concept in Bangladesh is famous human rights educationist Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman. According to Professor Rahman, “legal education of Bangladesh treats people – their traditions, experiences and institutions is essentially generic”. It teaches law students to approach law practice as if all people and all social life are homogenous. Professor Rahman thinks that a range of practical know-how and intellectual sophistication is necessary to change the fate of the poor justice seekers. Dr Rahman stresses on four things for a legal transformation:  firstly, working with clients, not just working on their behalf; secondly, collaborating with clients by taking their potential into account; thirdly, teaching self-help to the client by going beyond formal representativeness; and finally, building coalitions, not just being capable of filing a lawsuit. In fine, in order to represent the community, a law graduate must take training and skills that reflect (and in turn, helps produce) an idea of lawyering compatible with a collective fight for social change – a “rebellious idea of lawyering” at odds with the conception of prevailing “legal practice”.  Professor Mizan reminds us that the missionary message of our liberation war casts a duty on us to produce a new breed of drohi ainjibi or “rebellious lawyers”. They would be the catalyst for social change and would redefine law and justice to understand the sweat and tears of the many millions who are the eternal tenants of exploitation.

Keeping this lawyering philosophy in mind, ELCOP was established 20 years back by Professor Rahman and HRSS is its main enterprise. The other follow up facets of ELCOP are Street Law (Protidiner Ain) and Community Law Reform (CLR)—all as of now have received international applause, the latest being the “SILF-MILAT Award for South Asian Excellence in Legal Education 2018” from the Society of Indian Law Firms.

ELCOP’s working theme, thus, has been rebellious lawyering since its inception. The magic year—20th—is an opportunity for us to look back. As such, the aim of the upcoming 20th HRSS is to provide the young law students with a platform to critically deliberate on various contemporary issues on rebellious lawyering vis-à-vis human rights in Bangladesh and beyond.

Topics of the paper

As mentioned, our main theme of HRSS (and the Yearbook) this year is “Human Rights and Rebellious Lawyering”. The sub-themes are included, but not limited to:

Human rights and rebellious lawyering;
ELCOP, Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman and  rebellious lawyers;
Law, human rights and poverty;
Law and empowerment of the poor
Justice delivery system, justicing and judicial activism;
Human rights in the age of globalization;
The politics of constitutionalism;
Public interest litigation, social justice and development;
Human rights and technology;
Law schools and legal education in South Asia and beyond’
Lawyers’ role in global conflict and peace
You may write on any of the above topics or matters you believe should be a technical extension of the theme.

 

Word limit

The paper should be written in between 5000-8000 words excluding footnotes.

Presentation and Style Information

The publication will follow the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) referencing Style. You can have a copy of it from internet as well. Footnotes should be collated at the end of each page. Footnotes to the title and author(s)’ names should be designated as *, † etc. Footnotes to the text should be designated as 1, 2, 3 etc. The asterisked footnote should give the author’s position, institutional address and any brief acknowledgements if required.

Copyright

It is a condition of HRSS Publications that authors’ grant an exclusive license to ELCOP permitting it to reproduce and/or disseminate the author’s contribution or elements of it (e.g. abstract, meta data). In signing the license, the authors retain the right to use their own material and ELCOP asks that HRSS Publication is acknowledged as the original place of publication.

Submission Deadline and Rules

You should send a single hard copy of your manuscript. The envelope should be marked as “Submission for ELCOP Year Book on Human Rights” on the top. The Deadline for sending your manuscript is: 30th June 2019 (Sunday).

Articles should also be submitted as an electronic form (in word format) either in CD or as an email attachment to elcop71@gmail.com by the same deadline mentioned above.

All submissions should be accompanied by a statement that the material is not under consideration elsewhere, and that it has not been published or is not pending publication elsewhere.

Questions and clarifications may be addressed to:

Tapas Kanti Baul, Barrister-at-Law
Executive Director
Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP)
Email: tkbaul@gmail.com

15

Research & Publication / Conference on South Asia’s International Courts and Tribunals Feb 28-29, 2020

« on: May 20, 2019, 05:52:14 PM »

About the organisation:

South Asian University (SAU) is an international university established by the eight member nations of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) viz. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SAU started its operations from the academic year 2010.

About the conference:

Faculty of Legal Studies International Conference of South Asian University is hosting a conference on South Asia in the Era of International Courts and Tribunals, on 28–29 February 2020 at New Delhi.

The Conference is announced in the backdrop of discernibly increased activities of international courts and tribunals. Abstracts are invited that engage with the conference theme which intends to facilitate a number of streams of inquiry both within and across them. In particular, the conference theme invites engagement with a range of issues broadly falling within the following three sub-themes:

Date and place: 28–29 February 2020, New Delhi.

Topic: South Asia in the Era of International Courts and Tribunals.

Venue: FSI Hall, Akbar Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, India, 110 021.

Theme:

1. The Composition and Competence of International Courts and Tribunals and the Role of South Asian Countries.

2.  The Strategies and Advocacy before International Courts and Tribunals and South Asian Countries.

3: The Impact of International Courts and Tribunals on the Governance of South Asian Countries.

Submission of proposals:

Interested scholars are invited to submit one abstract of 400–500 words. Full name, email address and affiliation of the applicant must be written at the top of the document containing the abstract. Proposals should identify whether they are a “young scholar” proposal. The abstract file must be submitted in .doc, .docx or .pdf format, and named “Surname_Name_SACT2020_Abstract”.

The applicant must also send a one-page curriculum vitae, including a list of most relevant publications. The curriculum vitae file must be submitted in .doc, .docx or .pdf format, and named “Surname_Name_SACT2020_CV”.

The subject column of the submission e-mail must be composed as “SACT2020 Submission – Surname_Name”.

The abstract and the curriculum vitae must be emailed to < sact2020[at]sau.int>.

Selection criteria:

Relevance to the Conference theme.
The originality of the paper.
Geographical and gender balance of the participants.
Timeline:

The issue of the call for papers: 28 February 2019.
Submission of abstracts (400–500 words): 30 June 2019.
Communication to successful applicants: 31 July 2019
Submission of full papers (8000–12000 words): 15 December 2019.
Last date of registration: 31 January 2020.
Conference dates: 28–29 February 2020.
Grants:

Participants will be responsible for their travel and accommodation expenses.

Very limited funding may be available to young scholars (PhD candidates or those who have had the submission of their theses no earlier than three years before submission of their abstracts) working in SAARC countries to support a portion of their travel and accommodation.

However, no financial support will be given without a timely receipt of full papers.

Registration:

Non-SAU PhD scholars: INR500/$10/EUR10.
Non-SAU teachers and others: INR1000/$20/EUR20.