e_Paper, Sunday, August 20, 2017

More documents

Recommendations

Info

DT 12 Editorial SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 TODAY When water is a weapon Water has always been used as a medium of control by powerful countries over weaker ones PAGE 13 RAJIB DHAR Anxiety in the Korean peninsula US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also urged North Korea to be more cautious about its tests and about attacking Guam PAGE 14 Your licence, please As terrifying as it may sound, something like 80% of drivers of BRTA-registered vehicles do not have the appropriate licence to be behind a wheel. Many are driving heavy vehicles while they are licensed for only light to medium vehicles, or have no licence at all. And it should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen the tender faces of many of these drivers, that the roads are filled with drivers not old enough to even qualify for licences. Is it any surprise, then, that Bangladesh’s road fatality rate is so high? It is appallingly irresponsible of the authorities to let untrained, unlicensed hands endanger the lives of all those who travel on our roads and highways. These unfit drivers need to be taken off the street immediately. It is appallingly irresponsible of the authorities to let untrained, unlicensed hands drive buses Wake up and smell the Nazis Anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-Islam positions and economic nationalism are the key ideals advocated by these parties Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.trib@gmail.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune. The views expressed in opinion articles are those of the authors alone and they are not the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher. PAGE 15 You call this punishment? The arrest of Tufan and his accomplices, convicted in the recent high-profile rape and torture case, seems to have been a parody of justice -- a mere masquerade. It has been revealed that instead of paying for their heinous crimes against two innocent victims, who nearly lost their lives and suffered irreversible trauma, the perpetrators are living in luxury in prison. The idea of justice requires that the offender’s punishment should be, at least, proportionate to the suffering he has inflicted on the victim, but taking recreational drugs and being on the phone with friends hardly seem like punishment, let alone proportionate. Punishment needs to send a strong message to would-be rapists, and in this case, the wrong message is being sent. Punishment needs to send a strong message to would-be rapists
When water is a weapon Is the flood in Bangladesh an outcome of trans-boundary harm? Opinion 13 DT SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 No way to live • Aiman R Khan Every monsoon, the dam that divides the river Ganges between India and Bangladesh becomes the reason for mass suffering. We brace ourselves for a massive flood as the water enters Bangladesh through the Farakka barrage. Crops are destroyed, lives are lost, causing a huge impact on Bangladesh’s economy. This has been the case for a long while now, and little has been done to solve it. Water has always been used as a medium of control by powerful countries over weaker ones. The less powerful countries have little or no choice but to comply and negotiate if a powerful one uses its water as a manipulative tool. This is exactly what has been going on between India and Bangladesh over its shared waters. Politics and treaties The sharing of the trans-boundary water accelerated political tension over the years. Hence, dispute related to it is not new in this part of the world. With 53 transboundary rivers shared by the two countries, tensions related to water have been prevalent for the last 50 years. The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Peace with India in 1972 contributed to the construction of the Farakka barrage with a view to cooperate in the field of flood management in both India and Bangladesh. A series of bilateral agreements followed and finally in 1996 the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty was signed. It was largely expected that the issues will finally be settled. The 1996 Treaty appeared promising, incorporating many international environmental law principles like “mutual accomodation” and “optimum utilisation.” It also talked about flood management like its predecessor. Article II (iii) of the treaty talks about the principles of equity, fairness, and No-Harm which is also in line with the International Environmental Law. However, critics found the treaty faulty as it lacks a guarantee clause and arbitration clause as means of dispute resolution. Doubts have arisen on the treaty’s efficiency to tackle emergency situations even after its ambitious provisions. The only remaining treaty governing the water issue between the two countries now lacks proper enforcement mechanism. Surprisingly, none of the five major environmental instruments in Bangladesh talks about transboundary harm by water. However at a global level, the rights therein may be extracted. There are international laws that would acknowledge the opening of Farakka to be the cause of transboundary harm to Bangladesh. International Environmental Law is comprised of a set of principles from customary international law. Among the few, two important principles relevant to our concern are “Equitable and Reasonable Utilisation” and the “No-Harm” principle. Historically, these doctrines emerged to urge nations to protect the environment even if it is a part of another territory. For a better understanding of the theory, it must be clarified what equity means in international law. According to the International Court of Justice in the Tunisia- Libya Continental Shelf Case: “Equity as a legal concept is a direct emanation of the idea of justice.” Therefore in our context, an equitable utilisation would mean the responsibility of a state in using of a shared resource with another state, justly. No harm, no foul The No-Harm Principle suggests every state is duty-bound to prevent, reduce, and control the risk of environmental harm to other states. According to this principle, states must ensure that activities within their jurisdiction do not cause significant crossboundary environmental damage. A classic example of this doctrine can be seen in the Trail Smelter Case (United States v Canada). The no-harm rule has been incorporated in various law and policy documents. For instance, Principle 21 of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration provides that: “States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other states or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” Article 194 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) states: “States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that activities under their jurisdiction or control are so conducted as not to cause damage by pollution to other states and their environment.” Similarly, the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Principle 2), the Convention on Biological Diversity (Article 3), and the UNFCCC (in recital 8 of its preamble) all talk about the No-Harm Principle. Water has always been used as a medium of control by powerful countries over weaker ones These customary international rules have made its way into many international treaties and conventions regarding shared waters: 1. The Madrid Declaration on the international regulation regarding the use of international watercourses for purposes other than navigation 1911 talks about any river or stream between two states. 2. Articles on Flood Control, New York, 1972, states that co-operation with respect to flood control may, by agreement between basin states, include execution of flood control measures, among others. 3. The Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers 1966 of the International Law Association talks about the principle of equitable utilisation of the waters of an International drainage basin. FOCUS BANGLA 4. The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes 1997 or the UN Watercourses Convention talks about the scope of Equitable Utilisation and the No-Harm principle. 5. The Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts 2001 talks about the international responsibility of a state for doing a wrongful act. Intentional flooding or not using trans-boundary waters reasonably may be considered to be a wrongful act. 6. The Berlin Rules on Water Resources 2004 supersedes International Law Association’s previous water laws, the Helsinki Rules 1966. The new law has been revised to include statements advocating public participation, environmental sustainability, equitable and reasonable water utilisation, and causing no significant harm. Although, neither India nor Bangladesh is a signatory to any of the conventions mentioned above, they are parties to the Stockholm Declaration of 1972, the Rio Declaration 1992, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UNCLOS 1982. Currently, there is no binding international agreement on transboundary water in force. But since both the countries are parties to the conventions that talk about the No Harm Principle, there is still a ray of hope for Bangladesh. Under these instruments, the flooding of Bangladesh as a transboundary harm is highly likely to be recognised at an international level. • Aiman R Khan is a trainee lawyer at Dhaka Judge Court.
Page 1 and 2: SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 | Bhadra 5,
Page 3 and 4: News SUNDAY, 3 AUGUST 20, 2017 DT T
Page 5 and 6: News 5 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 DT O
Page 7 and 8: News SUNDAY, 7 AUGUST 20, 2017 DT F
Page 9 and 10: News 9 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 DT
Page 11: News 11 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 Leb
Page 15 and 16: Opinion 15 Wake up and smell the Na
Page 17 and 18: What’s on 17 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2
Page 19 and 20: AUSTRALIA TOUR OF BANGLADESH Sports
Page 21 and 22: Sports 21 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 D
Page 23 and 24: Showtime 23 SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017

e_Paper, Sunday, August 20, 2017

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?