Bangladesh-India Lead Acid Battery Case: Importance of WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism and Lesson for LDCs (Published)
Bangladesh-India trade dispute over India’s imposition of anti-dumping duty on Bangladesh’s lead acid battery export is a significant event in the history of World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism. After 10 years of WTO’s establishment, this was the first instance when a least developed country (LDC) challenged a much stronger economy at the highest level of trade related international legal process. After the beginning of the legal proceedings, India’s decision to go back to negation table to find a mutually agreed solution and subsequent termination of anti-dumping duty proves that the process is important for making the big economies follow the norms and laws of international trade. In addition, the very existence of such mechanism acts as a deterrent against arbitrary enactment of unfair, unlawful and unilateral trade measures. Finally, this is a milestone for other LDCs to overcome the psychological barrier of standing up against stronger economies and claim their fair rights in international trade regime.
Keywords: Bangladesh, India, LDC, Trade Dispute, WTO, dispute settlement mechanism
International Legal Framework and Animal Welfare: Participation of Bangladesh (Published)
Animals are significantly important for our mother earth because the existence of many species depend on the continued survival of others and it is predominant to ensure the conservation and sustainable management of animal resources. This research work tries to kindle on the existing international initiatives covering animal welfare, nevertheless a comprehensive and universal global treaty may not be proved effective in all aspects of international initiatives will be proved useful in case of migratory animals, endangered species and trading of animals whose range extends beyond national boundaries. This research work analyses the current situation and achievements to date of the major international instrument in addressing the threats posed wild animal, marine animals, domestic animals and migratory species. This article also tries to explain the challenges which these instruments face and parallelly addresses the participation of Bangladesh in these international treaties. This research work also outlines the potential scope for further development and seeks to demonstrate that the national animal management system should be flourished in the light of international standard.
Keywords: Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Bangladesh, International Instrument
NGO LAWS IN BANGLADESH: THE NEED TO HARMONIZE (Published)
In recent years, although the national Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have become vital items on the development agenda of the Bangladeshi government, however, there is still no single uniform law and authority for regulating and monitoring this sector. The current laws fail to regulate the operation of the sector and that is a big threat to the healthy growth of the organizations to serve the society. This paper will select, analyze and compare the existing statutory laws regarding the regulation of NGOs in Bangladesh. In addition, this paper will critically examine the inadequacies of the existing legal structure to specifically highlight the need to devise a legal framework that both facilitates the operational activities of an NGO and regulates its governance. Finally, the paper will recommend the framing of a modern uniform NGO law in Bangladesh that can commensurately serve the public. Qualitative and quantitative analytical research methods have been applied primarily; besides, a non-doctrinal method has also been applied in this paper
Keywords: Bangladesh, NGO, Non-Government, Organization, Regulation
Rule of Law and Good Governance in Bangladesh: Does Judicial Control Matter? (Review Completed - Accepted)
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of judicial activism as an instrument of judicial control in establishing rule of law and its impact on good governance in Bangladesh. Judicial activism is one of the effective and proactive mechanisms in protecting various aspects of human rights such as- fundamental rights, equal rights of human being, life, liberty and properties, equal opportunity of employment, rights of sound environment and overall protection of public or national interest. All those are the basis of rule of law and good governance of a country. The major findings of the paper are: rule of law is one of the most crucial elements of good governance and judiciary is a very vital institution of government to establish rule of law in a country. Judicial activism is such an approach, where, there is no need to file a writ by the affected person directly. Any legally conscious person or organization has the right to writ on behalf of affected rights or public interest. It has also found that the role of NGOs or human rights defender organizations is crucial for adjudicating public interest litigation to promote and protect individual rights as well as to uphold the spirit of rule of law. In Bangladesh, most of the PIL cases are filled by human rights defenders organizations (e.g.: BELA, BLAST and ASK) and some other NGOs. Apart from this, delay and log jam of cases is another crucial problem of Bangladesh judiciary which appears in few cases of this paper. This is one of the major impediments of fair and speedy justice delivery, which ultimately creates room for more corruption and violation of human rights in Bangladesh
Keywords: Bangladesh, Governance, Human Rights, Judicial Activism, NGOs and Accountability of Government, Public Interest Litigation, Rule Of Law