ISSN : 1997-1052 (Print)
2227-202X (Online)
 
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Judicial Enforcement of Socio- Economic Rights in Bangladesh: Lessons from India and South Africa
Tariq Bin Sarwar
Abstract

Socio-economic rights are fundamental to every human being. These rights are entrenched in the Constitution of Bangladesh, India and South Africa. But the mandate for their judicial enforcement is not visible in all those instruments. In the Constitution of India and Bangladesh, socio-economic rights are placed as unenforceable principles distinct from civil and political rights. On the other hand, these are enumerated as part of enforceable Bill of Rights in the Constitution of South Africa. The current paper visualizes how the Indian and South African practices can facilitate to develop the jurisprudence of judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights in Bangladesh. It is demonstrated that the Supreme Court of India and the Constitutional Court of South Africa have successfully enforced the socio-economic rights. Whereas the Supreme Court of Bangladesh establishes fewer examples vis a vis India and South Africa. The submission of the paper is that the construction of the related constitutional provisions in a wider approach will make the judicial enforcement of the socio-economic rights a common reality in Bangladesh. In doing so, analysis of the Indian and South African cases is made which shows the activism of the judges in enforcing the socio-economic rights by including those within the scope of fundamental rights and by applying the test of reasonableness.

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