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Has your State/National Society/Institution incorporated the commitments contained in this resolution into the relevant strategic or operational plans?
YesThe commitments are incorporated into:
Legislation (e.g. Law, Regulation, Statutes, Rules of Procedure etc.)At the National level
Explanation:
Bangladesh as a state party is obliged to incorporate provisions for the repression of breaches of the Conventions and their protocols. Bangladesh is yet to enact specific legislation to that effect. National IHL Committee in collaboration with the ICRC organised a workshop a few years back to draft the implementing legislation to that effect. However, due to Covid -19 situation, there was no further progress until this year. National IHL Committee has met twice this year to finalise the draft and on 27 June, another meeting will be held to finally send it to the Cabinet Division for placing it before the Parliament.
Moreover, National IHL Committee has finalised the draft of the implementing legislation for the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention and on upcoming 27 June, hopefully the draft will be sent to the Ministry of Defense for placing it before the Cabinet Division.
As a party to the Geneva Conventions and its Protocols, Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has an obligation to translate them and to communicate the official translations to Swiss Federal Council. It also has the obligation to communicate the translations to other state parties during hostilities. Draft translation of the GC & AP translated into Bangla as a result of an initiative taken by the ICRC has been submitted to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). National IHL Committee of Bangladesh has taken up the issue for consideration and after sending the abovementioned two legislation to the Cabinet Division, the IHL Committee will deal with the issue of translation.
BDRCS is a member of the National IHL Committee and since its inception, has been contributing crucially in the monitoring of the national implementation of IHL.
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Has your State/National Society/Institution been working with other partners to implement the commitments contained in this resolution?
YesPartner with:
National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in your country
Government and/or public authorities
ICRC/IFRC
Other National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies
AcademiaExamples of cooperation:
To supervise the national implementation of IHL, GoB has formed a National IHL Committee in pursuance of an Executive Order issued by the Prime Minister, with the representation of all the key ministries of GoB and the defense services. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) is also a member of the Committee represented through its Honorary Legal Adviser on IHL, who is a Professor of IHL at the University of Dhaka. ICRC is also invited as an observer as and when needed. Thus, this Committee, which has successfully accommodated all the crucial partners, is playing a very crucial role in encouraging and inducing the GoB to fulfil their obligations under different IHL treaties.
Recently, the Honorary Legal Adviser on IHL has also been entrusted with the task of advising the BDRCS how to improve its role as an auxiliary to the Government by upgrading the relevant provisions in the final version of the new Red Crescent law, drafted by the BDRCS with the support of the International Federation and the ICRC. The Legal Adviser is already in touch with the other National Societies of the region to provide the BDRCS with appropriate advice.
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Have you encountered any challenges in implementing the commitments contained in this resolution?
YesWith challenges on:
Competing prioritiesDetails about challenges:
Due to the invasion of Covid-19 soon after the 33rd conference, the implementation of the resolution faced the main challenge of competing priorities. Bangladesh, not being much resourceful, had to really struggle during the Corona situation. BDRCS contributed a lot towards the fight against Covid 19. Even after that, 2022 and 2023 were much eventful in terms of international relations and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) had to remain busy with all those international dilemmas, including the influx of displaced persons from Myanmar. Therefore, it was almost impossible to induce the MOFA to convene the meeting of National IHL Committee.
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Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the work and direction of your State/National Society/Institution?
YesType of Impact:
Cooperation between Government/public authorities and National Society has been strengthenedDetails about the impact:
The glaring example of such impact is that once MOFA has got favourable atmosphere, three consecutive meetings of the national IHL Committee have taken place only within a span of four months.
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Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the communities that your State/National Society/Institution serves?
YesDescription of the impact:
Once we get the Legislation approved by the Parliament, it will be implemented through the various programs of BDRCS at the community level.
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