1. The People’s Republic of Fitherland
is a democratic country having parliamentary system of government. It shares
border with two neighboring countries, namely, Thunderland and Odutiland. To
the south of Fitherland lies the Umtata Bay. Fitherland is listed as a Least
Developed Country (LDC) has a lower middle income economy which is quite
fragile, and the economy is primarily based on agriculture. However, in recent
years it has been moving towards industrial economy. With the industrial
growth, the economy of Fitherland is slowly gaining momentum. Since its
independence, Fitherland never had a stable political situation until recently.
Though there are frequent protests against various government policies, very
few of them have given way to violence.
2.
Both Odutiland and Thunderland have
larger land area than Fitherland. The Republic of Odutiland is an
industrialized country having one of the largest economies in the world.
Thunderland is a democratic country, six times larger than Fitherland in area
having half of the population of Fitherland. Civil wars have been a constant
factor for Thunderland since its independence in 1958.
3.
‘Umbaleki’ is a minority group of
people in Thunderland. They have been living in Thunderland for many
generations. But the official stance of the Thunderland Government, however,
has been that the Umbalekis are mainly illegal immigrants who migrated to
Thunderland following its independence in 1958. Under its Citizenship law, it
has rendered the Umbalekis as stateless. This statelessness exposed the
Umbalekis to systematic discrimination and gross human rights violation, which
forced them to migrate to Fitherland. Most of the refugees are living in the
border region of Fitherland but a significant number of them live in Mohirpur
district, which is situated in the southern part of the country and close to
Shonalu Vana, a large forest home to tigers, freshwater dolphins, and hundreds
of other wildlife species.
4.
As of 10th May 2017, the number of
Umbaleki refugees in Fitherland stand about 7,00,000 (among them 0nly 40,000
are registered refugees). Unregistered Umbalekis fall under the domain of the
Immigrants Act 1967 and are treated as “illegal immigrants” under the legal
system of Fitherland. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is repeatedly appealing to
the Government of Fitherland to exempt all undocumented Umbaleki refugees from
the jurisdiction of the Immigrants Act 1967 in accordance with Section 10 of
the Act. Due to this categorization, the Umbaleki population in Fitherland is
facing extremely vulnerable condition leading to exploitation and human rights
abuse.
5.
In
an attempt to meet the energy crisis, the Government of Fitherland at the
outset of 2015 planned to build a new coal-based
power plant in Mohipur district to be called “The Mohipur Power Plant” The
plant is scheduled to become operational by 2022. The construction of the
Mohipur power plant has been part of an ambitious governmental plan to enhance
power generation to 20,000 MW by 2022. For that purpose, government has
already taken different initiatives to resettle the local people and refugees
from Mohipur to Combaza Island, a desolate landscape devoid of human
settlement, located in the Umtata bay. According to many national and
international human rights organizations and NGOs, the resettlement decision
has been taken without giving due consideration to the interest of the people
as the intended resettlement site is not habitable, being over 29 miles distant
from the mainland. But the government denied these reports from the human
rights organizations and NGOs and assured that the land is absolutely fit for
human habitation.
6.
‘The
Morning Sun’ is a popular local daily newspaper of Mohipur district. It is
widely read by the people of the district and well known for its neutrality. In
December 2016, the newspaper published a report on relocation of local people
and refugees in Combaza Island. The report reads:
“Although the journey to Combaza island from the nearest
human habitation of Mohipur distric takes minimum three hours by boat, and although about 5,000 acre of Combazz land
area regularly inundates during high
tides, Combaza island’s climate is similar to other islands of Mohipur district
and it could become fit for human habitation should necessary infrastructures be developed.”
7.
The
Fitherland Environmental Activists (FEA) commented that the project would
violate the environment impact assessment guidelines for coal-based thermal
power plants. A 2015 UNESCO report raised questions regarding the Environmental
Impact Assessment of the project, and called for renouncing the project. The
proposed project sets the plant’s annual fuel consumption at 5 million tons,
all of which needs to be imported. The massive coal bearing freights shall
traverse the river flow path, and cut through the Shonalu Vana, the largest
forest of the country and a listed UNESCO world heritage site.
Environmentalists have opined that these
coal-carrying vehicles more often than not are uncovered, making it likely to
scatter large amounts of fly ash, coal dust, sulphur, and other toxic
chemicals. It is also to be noted that Fitherland Government’s Department of
Environment in 1999 declared the Shonalu Vana an Ecologically Critical Area
(ECA) under the Sustainable Environment Act 1985. The activists added voice to
these concerns and contended that the proposed location of the Mohipur Station
would violate the Ramsar Convention which Fitherland has signed and ratified.
It is mentionable that the Shonalu Vana is on Ramsar's list of wetlands of
international importance. Besides, Learning about the probable effects of the
Mohipur Project, people in different areas of Fitherland started to protest
against it. The Fitherland Government continued to back the Mohipur project
despite these countrywide relentless protests. It rejected the concerns voiced
by critics and devoid of ground realities. The Government claimed that the
power project would help mitigate the perennial power crisis to an extent and
add impetus to the local economy.
8.
By
the end of 2015, “Mohipur Power plant project” became a buzzword in Fitherland.
With the dissenting opinions between environmental scientists and government in
hand, an empirical research was conducted by a group of students of Biological
Sciences from the National University of Science and Technology of Fitherland
for accounting threats versus safeguards. It was found that the plant would
draw 219,600 cubic metres of water every day from the river, and discharge
treated waste water back into that river causing pollutants to be introduced
into the water supply to the detriment of the wetlands, the marine animals
living there and nearby population. The environment and ecology experts predict
that the plant will release toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide
and sulphur dioxide, thereby putting the surrounding areas and, most
importantly, the ecology at grave risk.
9.
The Government officials have downplayed the
threats to ecology and insisted that the emissions of carbon, sulphur, fly
ashes and other types of air pollution will be “kept at a minimum level to
avoid any adverse impact on the environment”. They assured to import high
quality coal, erect a 275 metre high chimney, use state-of-art technology
including scrubber system and undertake other steps to ensure that the plant’s
impact on the nearby Shonalu Vana remains at a negligible and harmless level.
They argue that the project will lessen the financial dependency of the local
people on the forest by opening the opportunity of alternative employment.
Amidst of this ongoing debate, on 1 August 2016, Department of
Energy of Fitherland approved construction of the project, but then changed its
stance on 15 November and set 50 preconditions as safeguards against adversity.
One basic preconditions says according to the
environmental laws of Fitherland, projects like these that emit a lot of waste
and are environmentally harmful have to be outside of a 10 kilometer radius
from the outer periphery of any ecologically critical area (ECA). But then again, the State Minister
for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources delivered in a nationally televised
conference on 3rd October, 2016, “The local people, who had been involved in
illegal tree-felling and other illicit activities in the ‘Shonalu Vana’ would
get job opportunities in the plant to earn living.”
10.
The National Committee on Protection of Oil,
Gas, and Mineral Resources, all environmentalist groups, and general people of
Fitherland vowed to resist the planned inauguration of the Mohipur Power Plant
scheduled on 1st March 2017. Off and on, certain cumulative assemblies and
protests have been conducted throughout the country by several environmentalist
activist groups. On 25th February, 2017 thousands of people in Fitherland began
a peaceful rally for 4 days and walked 300 kilometres from the capital city
towards Mohipur in protest to oppose the power Plant.
11.
Upon
their arrival in the vicinity of the Plant, local people, amongst whom many
were Umbelekis, also joined the protest. The government deployed armed police
forces to obstruct the cause. Sudden fight between the protesters and law
enforcement agencies broke out as the protesters tried to block the key roads
and set up barricades. Nearly half of the protesters were arrested from the area.
Later, the Government detained them under the Special Security Act 1993 on the
ground that they were endangering public interest and interfering with the
administration and maintenance of law and order. It was also said that the
group was prejudicing the economic and financial interests of the State.
12.
As of 10 May 2017, the number of detained
Umbalekis is 350, most of whom are unregistered. They presented their petition
for release and requested the court to enable them to seek refugee status with
UNHCR in Fitherland. The petition was dismissed by the court and ruled that the
petitioners, who had entered Fitherland illegally, should not be permitted to
approach the office of the UNHCR because these people fall beyond UNHCR’s
mandate.
13.
On
20th May 2017, National Human Rights Commission of Fitherland, a
statutory body of the government, gave a statement to stop detaining people
illegally as it violates the mandates of the Constitution of Fitherland. It
also urged to withdraw development projects that violate the right to land of
those people.
14.
Looking at the probable harmful effects of
Mohipur Power Plant and abysmal conditions of local people and Umbaleki
refugees, Centre for Peoples’ Rights (CPR), a human rights organization, filed
a writ petition before the Supreme Court of Fitherland, challenging the
validity of the following decisions of the government.
Points for consideration before the
Hon'ble Court are:
1. Whether the Goverment's initiatives
to relocate the local people and Umbaleki refugees violate the fundamental
rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Fitherland.
2. Whether mass detention of local
people and Umbaleki refugees is violative of the laws and the Constitution of
Fitherland.
3. Whether the detained refugees can
claim the right of repatriation.
4. Whether the proposed construction of
Mohipur Power Plant near Shonalu Vana violates the fundamental rights of people
of Fitherland
Note:
1. The participants are permitted to raise
additional issues and sub-issues.
2. The Constitution and other relevant Laws of Fitherland are exactly
similar to the Constitution and Laws of Bangladesh.
3. The Immigrants Act 196, the
Special Security Act 1993 and the Sustainable Environment Act 1985 are exactly
similar to the Foreigners Act 1946, the Special Powers Act 1974 and the
Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 of Bangladesh respectively.
3. Fitherland has ratified all treaties that
Bangladesh signed and ratified.
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