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“The most important of these are the High Court and the Parliamentary Committee. And along with this, we need to make some other accountable institutions stand strong, the most notable of which is the NHRC,” he added.

In the existing law, the selection committee tasked with choosing the members of the NHRC mostly included bureaucrats.

The new draft law allows the inclusion of university professors as well as representatives from civil society with human rights experience, journalists, small ethnic groups and backward communities in the selection committee.

The new draft law says the chair of the selection committee must be a judge, said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Water Resources.

“If judges were always endowed with sound judgment, then incidents of extrajudicial killings would not have continued for years.”

Although the judiciary has moved forward and issued directives against mass arrests, there has been helplessness in implementing judicial decisions and instructions, she said.

“What has been stated about the commission’s functions -- we must see how much capacity it will truly have to do that. Just seating a few people in chairs will not suffice.”

There must also be an evaluation of the members’ performance. Furthermore, it should be stated that the recommendations of the commission must be implemented, she added.

A judicial system must be built where people from any corner of the country can say that they have confidence in the judicial system and the courts, said Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, head of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

The NHRC has always grappled with politicisation, said Adilur Rahman Khan, founder of Odhikar, a human rights organisation.

A national human rights commission was formed during a military-supported regime and was staffed with political activists later on.

“There were efforts to take away the rights of people. Even when the struggle of July was going on, a director of the National Human Rights Commission wrote to the United Nations that terrorists were creating terrorism in Bangladesh,” said Khan, adviser to the industries ministry.

Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain described the empowerment of the NHRC to investigate law enforcement agencies as a major achievement.

She praised the clause mandating that one-third of the commissioners be women -- an improvement from the previous single female member -- but emphasised the need for even greater female representation.

Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman commented that the definition of human rights should be specific in the new law.

Speakers included UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative Stefan Liller, Deputy Head of Mission of Danish Embassy Anders K Carlsen, Swedish ambassador Ritu Sinfred Renggli, law secretary Hafiz Ahmed Chowdhury, Senior Legal Adviser of the Asia-Pacific National Human Rights Institutions Greg Hism, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, Naripokkho founder Shireen Haque, Chakma Circle adviser Rani Yan Yan, Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman, Consulting Editor of The Daily Star Kamal Ahmed and Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances member Nur Khan Liton, among others.

The session was moderated by Romana Schweiger, Senior Advisor on Rule of Law, Justice and Security at UNDP Bangladesh; Tasneem Siddiqui, president of Odhikar; Sanjida Islam, coordinator of Maayer Daak, and Supreme Court lawyers Ehsan Abdullah Siddiq and Saqeb Mahbub.