Imagine a human rights violation that suffers impunity inside the country, but that can be held accountable by an international body of some sort. Examples could be custodial torture, or enforced disappearances, or extra-judicial killings – all of which have abysmal track records of getting justice at Bangladesh's courts.

When faced with the prospect of impunity inside national borders, the cause can be taken up by a regional body such as a court or a commission; that does not have the same trappings that national, non-independent judiciaries may have.

In fact, SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is the only regional body in the world without some form of regional human rights mechanism, pointed out experts.

They were discussing this crucial need at a consultation session by Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) and Asian Forum for Human Rights & Developments (FORUM-ASIA) last Monday, titled "National Strategy Consultation for the Establishment of Human Rights Mechanism".

Experts discussed specific issues or sectors where regional cooperation is needed to tackle human rights violations, saying that currently only civil society organisations take on this role and they are not sufficiently active.

"There are no laws that protect the rights of migrant workers in receiving countries," said Shaheen Anam, the Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).

Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA), said when issues such as Teesta river's water-sharing comes up, India points to the lack of international laws.

"What we cannot speak out about, others can talk about, if such a body exists," said Advocate Hasan. One solid example of this could be LGBTQI issues on which both India and Nepal have made considerable strides, while other South Asian countries remain behind.

Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, the Professor at the Department of International Relations, emphasised that global politics always decides which kinds of human rights violations get highlighted and addressed, and what does not, further underscoring the need for such a body.

Can these goals be met by SAARC? Dr Faustina Pereira, the Director of Human Rights and Legal Aid Services at BRAC, begged to differ saying that SAARC is barely functional with their current workload.

Similarly, Shamsul Haque, the Additional Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also pointed out that currently no new sub-bodies can be formed at SAARC.

But then what would this body look like? Experts argued that it could be a regional human rights court – with a caveat that it should be made time-bound so that it does not drag its feet like the European regional court.

It could also be a regional human rights commission. "A proposed South Asian Human Rights Commission shall be the entry point for adjudication of both the individual and inter-state communication. The proposed Commission should act as a quasi-judicial organ where complaints can be made following a certain list of admissibility criteria," said a keynote paper presented by Mohammad Golam Sarwar, the Assistant Professor of Law at Dhaka University.

However, experts also feared that such bodies can also be besieged by one major problem – none of the regional countries have a homogenous relationship with one another.

For example, India and Pakistan will always find it difficult to sit together for possible negotiation on the issue. Furthermore, the unequal power distribution across the region could very well result in certain issues taking precedence with other countries – like Maldives for instance – taking a backseat.

This can be further exacerbated by the interference of external powers. "The growing presence of the United States and China in this region has been one of the instrumental factors in influencing the relationship among SAARC countries," highlighted Assistant Professor Sarwar's paper.

Lastly, there could always be differences in political ideology hampering the process. One country could have no electoral democracy, while another could have right wing party in power – can these countries ever see eye-to-eye?

But this still does not mean that the body cannot come together to tackle certain issues where contentions are not as high, such as child labour, pointed out MJF's Executive Director Anam. 

Covered by Law Desk.