Extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, restrictions on press and poor working conditions have been marked as the most significant human rights problems in Bangladesh, says a report of US State Department.
According to State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 released on Thursday, the government took limited measures to investigate and prosecute cases of security force abuse and killing.
The report read: “The constitution provides for the rights to life and personal liberty; however, the media and local and international human rights organizations reported the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
“The government neither released statistics on total killings by security personnel nor took comprehensive measures to investigate cases, despite previous statements by high-ranking officials that the government would show zero tolerance and fully investigate all extrajudicial killings by security forces.”
Quoting a report of the legal aid and human rights NGO Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), the US report said: “During the first eight months of the year, security forces, including the RAB, committed an estimated total of 113 killings, and the local human rights NGO Odhikar reported security forces killed 136 persons in the first nine months of the year.
“There were an estimated 179 extrajudicial killings in all of 2013.”
“The deaths occurred during raids, arrests, and other law enforcement operations. The government often described these deaths as crossfire killings, gunfights, or encounter killings, terms used to characterise exchanges of gunfire between RAB or police units and criminal gangs, although the media sometimes also used these terms to describe legitimate uses of police force,” it added.
Referring to another report of Odhikar, it further said: “From January through September, there were 35 disappearances allegedly involving security personnel, compared with 14 in all of 2013. For the same period, ASK estimated there were 80 disappearances, compared with 53 in all of 2013.
The report also mentioned that RAB officers in Narayanganj in broad daylight abducted and killed seven individuals, including a prominent local politician in April. The officers were allegedly freelancing for a local strongman with AL connections.
“The government forced into retirement and arrested the officers responsible; investigations continued at year’s end.”
While highlighting on government’s restriction on press and internet freedom, the report specially mentioned the ICT contempt charge against British journalist David Bergman.
The other human rights problems included security force torture and other abuse, widespread official corruption, arbitrary arrests and detentions, weak judicial capacity and independence, and lengthy pretrial detentions.
It added that authorities infringed on citizens’ privacy rights.
Regarding women and children rights, the report stated: “Women suffered from unequal treatment. Early and forced marriage remained a problem. Many children were compelled to work, primarily in the informal sector, due either to economic necessity or in some instances trafficking.”
It also observed that discrimination against persons with disabilities was a problem, especially for children seeking admittance to public school.
“Instances of societal violence against religious and ethnic minorities persisted, although many government and civil society leaders claimed these acts had political or economic motivations and should not be attributed wholly to religious beliefs or affiliations.”
“Some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) faced continued legal and informal restrictions on their activities.
“Weak regard for the rule of law not only enabled individuals, including government officials, to commit human rights violations with impunity but also prevented citizens from claiming their rights.”
Mentioning that Politically motivated and intraparty violence remained serious problems, the report read: “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League (AL) retained power in the January 5 parliamentary elections, which were preceded by months of political turmoil and violence perpetrated by several political parties.
“After the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies boycotted the election and engaged in a series of violent strikes in a dispute over the composition of the government that oversaw the elections, the ruling party won the elections, with more than half of all seats uncontested.”
“Most international observers characterized the elections as controversial and falling short of international standards due to the boycott. Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over security forces.”
Source: Dhaka Tribune