Bangladesh tumbled backwards on human
rights in 2013. The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which has
long claimed to be liberal and democratic, engaged in a harsh crackdown on
members of civil society and the media. In August, it jailed prominent human
rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan on politically motivated charges. “Atheist”
bloggers were arrested, as was a newspaper editor. The government increasingly
accused those who criticized its actions or policies, ranging from the World
Bank to Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, of being
involved in plots against it.
On
many occasions the government employed violent and illegal measures against
protesters, including against followers of the Hefazat-e-Islami movement and
those demonstrating against deeply flawed war crimes trials which ended in
death sentences against many accused.
Dire
conditions for workers in the garment and other industries remained largely
unreformed in spite of promises of improvements following the tragic collapse
of the Rana Plaza garment factory in April and the
deaths of over 1,100 workers. The government finally dropped frivolous charges
against several labor rights leaders. The courts also ordered all charges to be
dropped against Limon Hossain, a young man wrongfully shot and maimed by
security forces in a botched operation in 2011.
Elections
scheduled for January 2014 led to increased tensions. Although the Awami League
campaigned for a caretaker system while in opposition to guard against fraud
and manipulation, once in power it abolished the system, leading to opposition
party threats to boycott the elections and increasing the chances of violent
confrontations between security forces and protesters.
Crackdown
on Civil Society, Media, and Opposition
In
February, Bangladesh
was gripped by large-scale protests, political unrest, and violence after the
International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islaami
party, Abdul Qader Mollah, to life in prison instead of death. Hundreds of thousands
of people throughout Bangladesh
took to the streets in peaceful protests to demand that Mollah be hanged. The
situation took a more violent turn after the ICT, on February 28, sentenced
another Jamaat leader, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, to death for war crimes.
Following this verdict, Jamaat supporters took to the streets. Jamaat
supporters were responsible for a number of deaths, but the security forces
killed many more with often indiscriminate attacks on protesters and
bystanders.
At
the same time, the government began a crackdown on critics. Several bloggers
who criticized the government for appearing to appease Islamic extremism were
arrested.
In
April, the law minister announced that the government would increase its
control over social media, blogs, and online news websites. On February 16, the
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission shut down the Sonar
Banglablog, known to be operated by Jamaat activists, for spreading “hate
speech and causing communal tension.” In a further attack on free speech, on
April 11 the police arrested Mahmdur Rahman, the editor of an opposition news
outlet, Amar Desh. Rahman was subsequently charged with sedition and unlawful
publication of a hacked conversation between the ICT judges and an external consultant
initially published by theEconomist magazine. On April 14, police raided the
offices of another opposition newspaper, Daily Sangram, and its editor was
subsequently charged for printing Amar Desh.
In
August, Adilur Rahman Khan of Odhikar, a leading human rights group, was
arrested under the Information and Communication Technology Act for allegedly
false reporting about killings by government security forces when they
dispersed the May 5-6 demonstration by Hefazat, a fundamentalist group
demanding greater adherence to Islamic principles. Police raided Odhikar’s
offices on the night of August 11, seizing computers which may contain
sensitive information on victims and witnesses. Khan was denied bail several
times and kept in prison for two months before being granted bail in October on
appeal.
In
October, parliament passed a bill amending the Information and Communication
Technology Act to increase the length of sentences, according the police
greater powers to arrest, and making certain offenses non-bailable.
At
time of writing, the ICT, set up to prosecute war crimes during the country’s
independence war in 1971, had handed down eight convictions, five of which
resulted in death sentences. While human rights organizations have long called
for fair trials of those responsible, the trials fell short of international
human rights standards. In December 2012, theEconomist published damning
evidence of collusion between judges, prosecutors, and the government showing
that judges were instructing the prosecution on the conduct of the trials, the
questioning of witnesses, and written submissions. The revelations led to the
resignation of the ICT’s chief judge, but defense motions for retrials were
rejected.
Although
the ICT had the authority to order measures for victim and witness protection,
it summarily dismissed credible claims of witness insecurity. In the Delwar
Hossain Sayedee case, judges dismissed credible evidence that an important
defense witness was abducted from the courthouse gates and did not order an
independent investigation into the allegation. Contradictory statements by key
prosecution witnesses were not taken into account in several cases, and judges
severely limited the number of defense witnesses. The Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court reversed the life sentence given to Abdur Qader Mollah and
imposed the death penalty after the government pushed through retrospective
amendments to the ICT Act, in clear violation of Bangladesh’s obligations under
article 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The amendment allowed the prosecution to appeal against the life sentence
handed down by the trial judges, which the ICT Act had not previously allowed.
Human
Rights Watch and the Economist, journalists and television show guests were
issued orders by the ICT to show cause for contempt for critical remarks and
reporting on the tribunal.
Unlawful
Violence Against Protesters
Bangladeshi
security forces frequently used excessive force in responding to street protests,
killing at least 150 protesters and injuring at least 2,000 between February
and October 2013. While large numbers of protesters were arrested, Bangladeshi
authorities made no meaningful efforts to hold members of the security forces
accountable. At least 90 protesters were killed by security force gunfire
during the clashes among the Shahbagh movement, Jamaat-e-Islaami supporters,
and security forces in March and April.
In
response to the May 5-6 Hefazat protests, the police, the paramilitary Rapid
Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) fired
indiscriminately into crowds and brutally and unlawfully beat protesters,
leading to approximately 50 deaths. At least a dozen members of the security
forces and police officers were also killed, as well as three members of the
ruling Awami League party.
Labor
Rights and Conditions of Workers
Bangladesh has long had notoriously
poor workplace safety, with inadequate inspections and regulations. This issue
was spotlighted in April, when the Rana
Plaza building, which
housed five garment factories, collapsed. The building had been evacuated the
day before due to cracks in the structure, but the workers had then been
ordered back to work. More than 1,100 workers died.
Under
domestic and international pressure, on July 15, 2013, the Bangladeshi
parliament enacted changes to the Labour Act. The amendments, which did away
with the requirement that unions provide the names of leaders to employers at
the time of registration and allow workers to seek external expert assistance
in bargaining, failed to lift a number of other restrictions on freedom of
association. The law also provided exemptions to export processing zones where
most garments are made. Even after Rana
Plaza, Bangladeshi law
remains out of compliance with core International Labour Organization
standards, including Convention No. 87 on freedom of association and Convention
No. 98 on the right to organize and bargain collectively.
The
government also undertook to have more regular inspections of factories in
2013, but inspections which were due to start in September remained stalled by
administrative delays.
In
a welcome move, the authorities dropped charges against the leaders of the
Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, who had been hampered and harassed in
their work for years by frivolous criminal charges.
Tannery
workers in the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka,
one of the world’s most polluted urban sites, continue to face highly toxic
working conditions. Some 150 leather tanneries operate in the area, producing
leather primarily for export and discharging 21 thousand cubic meters of
untreated effluent into the nearby Buriganga
River each day. The
government's planned relocation of the tanneries to a dedicated industrial
zone, delayed numerous times since 2005, was again put off in mid-2013.
The
Department of the Environment fined two tanneries for their failure to treat
waste in 2013, the first time environmental laws have been enforced against
Hazaribagh tanneries. Enforcement of environmental and labor laws is otherwise
lacking, with negative consequences for the health and well-being of tannery workers
and local residents.
Women’s
Rights
Leading
human rights groups in the country had discussions with doctors to revise
medico-legal protocols for the treatment and examination of rape victims to
exclude degrading practices like the two-finger test to draw conclusions about
a woman’s “habituation to sex.” Such groups are challenging the practice as a
violation of the fundamental rights to life and health with dignity in the High
Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court.
Key
International Actors
India, Bangladesh’s
most influential international interlocutor, remained largely silent on the
human rights situation. Bangladesh
and India
continued to hold talks on issues linked to their shared border including
illegal trade and the use of excessive force by Indian border guards leading to
deaths and injuries to Bangladeshi and Indian nationals.
Bangladesh’s donors were more vocal,
pressing the government to end its crackdown on critics. Donors were swift in
denouncing the arrest of Adilur Rahman Khan, with members of the international
community observing court proceedings. However, donors were largely silent on
the lack of fair trials at the ICT.
Following
the Rana Plaza collapse, over 70 European
companies signed an international accord designed to better protect Bangladeshi
workers by requiring regular inspections of factories and making the results
public. However, American buyers refused to join this accord and signed a
separate agreement which has been criticized for not allowing workers to freely
form unions.
The
government publicly agreed to allow international monitors to observe the
January 2014 elections. The international community, in particular the US, have
been vocal in calling for the various parties to come to an agreement well
beforehand in order to avoid contentious and potentially violent protests and a
non-credible election result.
First published by Human Rights Watch, January 21, 2014
