CHRD Bangladesh joins other human rights groups and activists in greatly appreciating the targeted sanctions placed by the US Department of the Treasury on Bangladesh’s paramilitary group, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The sanctions were symbolically announced on December 10, the International Human Rights Day. The US Treasury’s sanctions were followed by the cancellation of visas of certain individuals accused of extreme human rights abuses by the United States State Department, among them being Benazir Ahmed, the former Director General of RAB and the current Inspector General or police chief of Bangladesh.
Certain ministers of the Bangladesh government have since called the US’s actions “exaggerated”, but over the years, the increasing number of cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture are tantamount to crimes against humanity.
Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of the Asia division of the international rights group Human Rights Watch stated, “RAB deserved to be sanctioned years ago because it has been a de facto death squad, operating with impunity for years in Bangladesh”.
RAB was established in 2004 to primarily counter terrorism and other serious crimes, recruiting elite officers from the army, air force, navy and police. However, it soon deviated from its path of law enforcement to allegations of abuse, torture, extrajudicial killings and forceful detentions.
RAB has also become a very lethal and potent political tool since Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister in 2009 by undemocratic means. Since then the organization became involved in the disappearance of the political leaders of the opposition.
Odhikar, the Bangladeshi human rights organization, reports that between 2009 and September 2021, RAB killed at least 1,255 people in extrajudicial shootouts. Furthermore, 605 people have vanished through enforced disappearances in the same timeframe, with RAB being allegedly responsible for 190 of them. The Odhikar report states also that of the disappeared, 81 were found dead and 154 are still missing.
Brad Adams, the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, said, “A death squad is roaming the streets of Bangladesh and the government does not appear to be doing anything to stop it.”
Sheikh Hasina’a government consistently deny RAB’s involvement in any criminal activities. Even after the US sanctions have been placed, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister, A.K. Abdul Momen described RAB as “a very disciplined force free from corruption”. However, in 2017, court in Bangladesh handed out death sentences to 16 RAB members for the abduction and murder of seven people in Narayanganj.
Certain human rights groups, including CHRD Bangladesh, urge the United Nations to review maintaining Bangladesh as a participant in global peacekeeping forces. We also sincerely hope that the sanctions will widen to include more organizations and individuals involved in human rights abuses in Bangladesh.