UN states urged to call out Bangladesh govt’s violations of civic freedoms

CIVICUS, a global human rights alliance, and the Asian Human Rights Commission, in a joint statement on Thursday called upon the United Nations member States to use the upcoming human rights review of Bangladesh at the UN Human Rights Council to call out its ongoing failure to fully implement previous recommendations related to civic freedoms.

This lack of action raises questions on how serious the government is about upholding its international human rights obligations.

Bangladesh’s human rights record is going to be reviewed at the 44th session of Universal Periodic Review on November 13.

CIVICUS and AHRC submitted a stakeholder submission for the UPR in April 2023 where the organisations highlighted a range of issues. Out of the 29 recommendations Bangladesh received during the previous cycle of the UPR related to civic space, it has only partially implemented one.

In the submission, it said ‘We highlight how the Bangladesh government continues to use the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act — that is inconsistent with international human rights law and standards — and the NGO Affairs Bureau that sits under the prime minister’s office to restrict and harass civil society organisations.’

‘Our organisations also raised concerns about the harassment of critical human rights groups as well as the criminalisation and harassment of and threats and attacks on human rights defenders, journalists and critics, with impunity.’

The submission highlighted the judicial harassment of human rights group Odhikar, especially its leaders Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006. In recent years, the authorities have also targeted the families of activists, especially those in exile.

The submission also noted the ongoing restrictions on press freedom and the targeting of journalists who have been criminalised, harassed and attacked for their reporting. This has severely intensified through the systematic use of the Digital Security Act to silence online dissent. While the Digital Security Act has been repealed and replace with the Cyber Security Act 2023, there are serious concerns that restrictive provisions that can be used to criminalise free speech are retained in the new legislation.

‘Our organisations also highlighted the increased trend of the police using excessive and disproportionate force to crackdown on protesters, including students and youth, workers as well as the political oppositions.’

‘At times, the student wing of the ruling party, Bangladesh Chhatra League, has also been mobilised to attack protesters. Our organisations have seen an escalation of such actions around recent protests by the opposition in the run up to the national elections, in January 2024,’ it added.

Bangladesh was added to the CIVICUS monitor, Watchlist, in September 2023 due to the rapid decline of civic space in the country and to call for more international attention.