Front Line Defenders, an Ireland-based international organisation working for the protection and security of human rights defenders around the world, has called upon the government of Bangladesh to “suspend the DSA immediately, pending a thorough, transparent and independent review of the mis/use of this legislation”.
“Furthermore, the government should bring this Act and all other laws related to speech in line its obligations under international law and agreements,” Front Line Defenders said in a press release issued recently.
Bangladeshi human rights defenders face criminalisation with far-reaching consequences as a result of the broad and politically-motivated use of the Digital Security Act since it came into force in 2018, it said.
Already facing physical attacks, including killings, human rights defenders in the country now find that their posts on social media, artistic productions and general speech can put them in legal jeopardy and targeted by not only the authorities, but other political and social forces through a simple complaint to the police, the press release said.
A report by Front Line Defenders, “Digital Security Act: A Hanging Sword on Human Rights Defenders in Bangladesh”, documents cases of eight human rights defenders charged under the DSA, and how they suffered numerous violations of due process and economic difficulties as a result of lost income and jobs, and social stigmatisation and harassment.
In addition, their family members also suffered in various ways, while they were all forced to significantly curtail their human rights work.
“Human rights defenders in Bangladesh face a myriad of challenges, threats and attacks in carrying their work to protect the rights of the communities. The government repeatedly has failed to provide for the protection of human rights defenders. The way the Digital Security Act has been abused to criminalize speech and to shut down the work of HRDs (human rights defenders) must stop and the government should move quickly to repeal the provisions of the law that are clearly abused,” said Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders.
