Human rights in Bangladesh
Encyclopedia
In 2005, Bangladesh
experienced an unprecedented period of continuous political instability. OnAugust 17, 2005, four hundred bombs exploded in all but one of the nation's sixty-four districts. As a result of this instability and its national security
repercussions, Bangladesh's already questionable human rights has deteriorated.
Bangladeshi security forces have been persistenly criticised by Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
due to grave abuses of human rights. These include extrajudicial summary execution
s, excessive use of force and the use of custodial torture
. Reporters and defenders of human rights are harassed and intimidated by the authorities. Since 2003, legislative barriers to prosecution and transparency have afforded security services immunity from accountability to the general public. Hindu
and Ahmadi Muslim minorities human rights are in a compromised state, and corruption is still a major problem, such that Transparency International
has listed Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world for five co consecutive years.
(Bangladesh's Parliament), the right-wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party
gained a majority, largely on the basis of their law and order and national security policies within Bangladesh. In 2003, the government established the Rapid Action Battalion
, an elite 'anti-crime' unit composed of armed personnel from several of the existing security branches. Since the RAB was set up, it has been constantly alleged that extrajudicial killings and instances of custodial torture have surged.
Between January and October 2005, an estimated 300 'criminal' civilians died due to 'encounter' killings, at the hands of law enforcement agencies and the RAB. Human rights groups have recorded many of these killings, and have demanded that each death be investigated, but the government have refused to meet these requests. The government has defended RAB for having cut serious crime by fifty percent, and have, as of 2006, dismissed international condemnation of RAB——against whom the European Parliament
have issued a strong resolution by saying that 'encounter killings' happen all over the world.
The government's tolerance towards human rights abuses is not a new phenomenon. Operation Clean Heart was an anti-crime operation that ran nationwide from October 2002 to January 2003. It led to the death of approximately sixty people, the maiming of around three thousand individuals, and the arrest of more than forty-five thousand. On the day that Operation Clean Heart officially ended, an ordinance was ratified that prohibited law-suits or prosecutions for human rights violations during that period, giving the armed forces and police impunity from being prosecuted for their actions.
during custody and interrogation. One allegation of such came from a young man who was arrested in Dhaka
for protesting against the assault
of an old man by plainclothes RAB agents. He was later severely tortured. On July 27, 2005, two brothers from Rajshahi
, Azizur Rahman Noodle and Atiquer Rahman Jewel, were arrested for eating a pony's brain, beaten with batons
and subjected to electric shock
s. It is alleged that this brutality stemmed from the brothers' family being incapable of paying a sufficient bribe. The brothers were tortured to such an extent that they were hospitalised at the Rajshahi Medical School Hospital under police custody.
, a covenant designed to ensure freedom of religion
and of expression, it has tolerated violent assaults on religious minority communities by extremists.
In January 2004, the government succumbed to an ultimatum from their coalition partner, the Islami Okiya Jote, and the extremist vigilante Khatme Nabuwat Movement to declare that Ahmadi Muslims are "not" Muslims. Not wishing to lose its majority, Ahmadiyya publications were declared illegal by the government. A constitutional court suspended the ban, but Islamist groups are threatening legal challenge to this.
Attacks on the homes and places of worship of Ahmadiyya are still prevalent, but the government has chosen neither to prosecute those responsible, nor discipline police officers who failed to protect victims. Other religious minorities have come under attack, with abductions
, desecration
of religious sites, and forced conversion
s persistently reported. There have been many reports of Hindus having been evicted from their properties, and of Hindu girls being raped, but the police have refused to investigate, to this point. Due to this climate of religious persecution, several hundred thousand Buddhists, Hindus and Christian
s have left the country.
establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the right to practice—subject to law, public order, and morality—the religion of one's choice. The Government generally respects this provision in practice.
, was assassinated. This followed a 2004 attempt to assassinate
the leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina
, in a bomb and grenade blast. She survived, but twenty-three members of her party were killed. Other AL members, junior and senior alike, have reported harassment and intimidation.
Human rights organisations also operate under the threat of assault from the authorities and government supporters. On August 8, 2005, a group of BNP members attacked two human rights activists, who had been investigating torture against an Ahmadi. Journalists face the same fate: for three years, the organisation Reporters sans Frontières
, has named Bangladesh the country with the largest number of journalists physically attacked or threatened with death. The government has no intention of protecting journalists, whereas Islamist groups continue to intensify their intimidation of the independent news media.
Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the editor of the Bangladesh
i tabloid The Weekly Blitz, was imprisoned after writing articles warning about the rise of Islamic radicals, and urging Bangladesh to recognize Israel
. Choudhury is facing charges of sedition
, treason
, blasphemy
and espionage
since January 2004 for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv
. He violated the Passport
Act, by attempting to travel to Israel in November 2003. The Act forbids citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations. He was beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma
. On intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk
, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador
to the U.S., Choudhury's was released on bail
, though the charges were not dropped. In 2007, HOUSE RESOLUTION 64 passed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs calling on the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Choudhury.
Politically vulnerable groups at risk of HIV infection, such as sex worker
s and men who have sex with men
, have not been educated about the risk of AIDS, nor protected by the authorities, and they have found themselves regularly assaulted, abducted
, rape
d, gang raped, and subjected to extortion
by the police and by powerful criminals. Organisations have been established to stem the development of AIDS through education, but such projects have been curbed by police brutality towards members who work on them.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
experienced an unprecedented period of continuous political instability. OnAugust 17, 2005, four hundred bombs exploded in all but one of the nation's sixty-four districts. As a result of this instability and its national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
repercussions, Bangladesh's already questionable human rights has deteriorated.
Bangladeshi security forces have been persistenly criticised by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
due to grave abuses of human rights. These include extrajudicial summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
s, excessive use of force and the use of custodial torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. Reporters and defenders of human rights are harassed and intimidated by the authorities. Since 2003, legislative barriers to prosecution and transparency have afforded security services immunity from accountability to the general public. Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Ahmadi Muslim minorities human rights are in a compromised state, and corruption is still a major problem, such that Transparency International
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
has listed Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world for five co consecutive years.
Extrajudicial killings
After general elections in 2001 to the Jatiyo SangshadJatiyo Sangshad
Jatiya Sangsad or National Assembly is the national parliament of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 345 seats including 45 women reserved seats distributed on elected party position in the parliament, the occupants of which are called Members of Parliament or MPs...
(Bangladesh's Parliament), the right-wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...
gained a majority, largely on the basis of their law and order and national security policies within Bangladesh. In 2003, the government established the Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion or RAB is an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police constituted amending the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance, 1979. Under the command of Inspector General of Police it consists of members of Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy,...
, an elite 'anti-crime' unit composed of armed personnel from several of the existing security branches. Since the RAB was set up, it has been constantly alleged that extrajudicial killings and instances of custodial torture have surged.
Between January and October 2005, an estimated 300 'criminal' civilians died due to 'encounter' killings, at the hands of law enforcement agencies and the RAB. Human rights groups have recorded many of these killings, and have demanded that each death be investigated, but the government have refused to meet these requests. The government has defended RAB for having cut serious crime by fifty percent, and have, as of 2006, dismissed international condemnation of RAB——against whom the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
have issued a strong resolution by saying that 'encounter killings' happen all over the world.
The government's tolerance towards human rights abuses is not a new phenomenon. Operation Clean Heart was an anti-crime operation that ran nationwide from October 2002 to January 2003. It led to the death of approximately sixty people, the maiming of around three thousand individuals, and the arrest of more than forty-five thousand. On the day that Operation Clean Heart officially ended, an ordinance was ratified that prohibited law-suits or prosecutions for human rights violations during that period, giving the armed forces and police impunity from being prosecuted for their actions.
Torture
R&B and other record agencies have been accused of using tortureTorture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
during custody and interrogation. One allegation of such came from a young man who was arrested in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
for protesting against the assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
of an old man by plainclothes RAB agents. He was later severely tortured. On July 27, 2005, two brothers from Rajshahi
Rajshahi
The city of Rajshahi is the divisional headquarters of Rajshahi division as well as the administrative district that bears its name and is one of the six metropolitan cities of Bangladesh. Often referred to as Silk City and Education City, Rajshahi is located in the north-west of the country and...
, Azizur Rahman Noodle and Atiquer Rahman Jewel, were arrested for eating a pony's brain, beaten with batons
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
and subjected to electric shock
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
s. It is alleged that this brutality stemmed from the brothers' family being incapable of paying a sufficient bribe. The brothers were tortured to such an extent that they were hospitalised at the Rajshahi Medical School Hospital under police custody.
Persecution of minority communities
Although Bangladesh is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
, a covenant designed to ensure freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
and of expression, it has tolerated violent assaults on religious minority communities by extremists.
In January 2004, the government succumbed to an ultimatum from their coalition partner, the Islami Okiya Jote, and the extremist vigilante Khatme Nabuwat Movement to declare that Ahmadi Muslims are "not" Muslims. Not wishing to lose its majority, Ahmadiyya publications were declared illegal by the government. A constitutional court suspended the ban, but Islamist groups are threatening legal challenge to this.
Attacks on the homes and places of worship of Ahmadiyya are still prevalent, but the government has chosen neither to prosecute those responsible, nor discipline police officers who failed to protect victims. Other religious minorities have come under attack, with abductions
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, desecration
Desecration
Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.-Detail:...
of religious sites, and forced conversion
Forced conversion
A forced conversion is the religious conversion or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death...
s persistently reported. There have been many reports of Hindus having been evicted from their properties, and of Hindu girls being raped, but the police have refused to investigate, to this point. Due to this climate of religious persecution, several hundred thousand Buddhists, Hindus and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s have left the country.
Freedom of religion
Although initially Bangladesh opted for a secular nationalist ideology as embodied in its Constitution, the principle of secularism was subsequently replaced by a commitment to the Islamic way of life through a series of constitutional amendments and government proclamations between 1977 and 1988. The ConstitutionConstitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the right to practice—subject to law, public order, and morality—the religion of one's choice. The Government generally respects this provision in practice.
Intimidation of human rights defenders, journalists, and the opposition
Voices of opposition are ever more at risk in Bangladesh, as groups who document or speak out against the actions of the government have found themselves increasingly threatened and under attack. On January 27, 2005, Shah Abu Mohamed Shamsul Kibria, former Finance Minister and senior member of the secular Bangladesh Awami LeagueBangladesh Awami League
The Bangladesh Awami League , commonly known as the Awami League, is the mainstream center-left, secular political party in Bangladesh...
, was assassinated. This followed a 2004 attempt to assassinate
2004 Dhaka grenade attack
The 2004 Dhaka grenade attack was an attempt to kill Sheikh Hasina, the then-former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, on August 21, 2004. The attack left at least 23 dead and injured many others, including Hasina....
the leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina is a Bangladeshi politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Awami League, a major political party, since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh and widow of a reputed nuclear...
, in a bomb and grenade blast. She survived, but twenty-three members of her party were killed. Other AL members, junior and senior alike, have reported harassment and intimidation.
Human rights organisations also operate under the threat of assault from the authorities and government supporters. On August 8, 2005, a group of BNP members attacked two human rights activists, who had been investigating torture against an Ahmadi. Journalists face the same fate: for three years, the organisation Reporters sans Frontières
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
, has named Bangladesh the country with the largest number of journalists physically attacked or threatened with death. The government has no intention of protecting journalists, whereas Islamist groups continue to intensify their intimidation of the independent news media.
Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the editor of the Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i tabloid The Weekly Blitz, was imprisoned after writing articles warning about the rise of Islamic radicals, and urging Bangladesh to recognize Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Choudhury is facing charges of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
and espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
since January 2004 for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. He violated the Passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
Act, by attempting to travel to Israel in November 2003. The Act forbids citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations. He was beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently damaging vision in the affected eye and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. It is often, but not always, associated with increased pressure of the fluid in the eye...
. On intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk
Mark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district....
, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the U.S., Choudhury's was released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
, though the charges were not dropped. In 2007, HOUSE RESOLUTION 64 passed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs calling on the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Choudhury.
AIDS and homosexuality in Bangladesh
Reported cases of HIV/AIDS are growing at an alarming extent, with over a million AIDS sufferers in Bangladesh. Whilst this rise of AIDS is not confined to Bangladesh in particular, the government is doing nothing to prevent the spread of AIDS and is not prosecuting police who rape homosexual men.Politically vulnerable groups at risk of HIV infection, such as sex worker
Sex worker
A sex worker is a person who works in the sex industry. The term is usually used in reference to those in the sex industry that actually provide such sexual services, as opposed to management and staff of such industries...
s and men who have sex with men
Men who have sex with men
Men who have sex with men are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, regardless of how they identify themselves; many men choose not to accept sexual identities of homosexual or bisexual...
, have not been educated about the risk of AIDS, nor protected by the authorities, and they have found themselves regularly assaulted, abducted
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d, gang raped, and subjected to extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
by the police and by powerful criminals. Organisations have been established to stem the development of AIDS through education, but such projects have been curbed by police brutality towards members who work on them.
External links
Chancery Law Chronicles- First Bangladesh Online Case Law Database * http://www.clcbd.org- Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities
- Litigation Against Government of Bangladesh for the Protection of Country's Minority communities who are deprived of their fundamental rights.
- The Genocide in Chittagong Hill Tract of Bangladesh.
- Human Rights Watch's overview of human rights issues in Bangladesh
- Human Rights Watch's Bangladesh index
- Censorship in Bangladesh - IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM): Atrocities against Minorities in Bangladesh.
- Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities of Dallas Fort-Worth (HRCBM-DFW): Atrocities against Minorities in Bangladesh.
- The AHRCAHRCAHRC can refer to:* Asian Human Rights Commission* Arts and Humanities Research Council* Association for the Help of Retarded Children* American Homeowners Resource Center* Australian Human Rights Commission...
's report on 'brutal' torture of Rahman Shohel - Article2's long list of alleged abuses of human rights
- ECT: Why Gay men flee Bangladesh
- UNDP: AIDS in Bangladesh
- Murder in the Hill tracts
- serious Bangladesh human rights issues in detail, including torture, extrajudicial killing, impunity and failed administration of justice.Important documents in Bangla