Her Excellency Linda Thomas-Greenfield
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
United States Mission to the United Nations
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
July 31, 2023
Dear Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield,
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh), a nonprofit organization registered in the US, would like to draw your kind attention to the letter submitted to you on July 27, 2023 by 14 leading members of the US Congress urging you to take up with the United Nations a few democracy and human rights issues concerning Bangladesh.
Conveying its complete solidarity with the views expressed in the letter of the bipartisan Congress members, CHRD Bangladesh humbly requests you to kindly take up the matter with right earnest.
The deplorable human rights and democracy situation in Bangladesh under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, illegally in power through massive election frauds since 2009, is known to you, to the United States and to the entire world. President Joe Biden committed to enforce, among other things, human rights, democracy, election integrity and combating corruption and authoritarianism in his overseas engagements. Bangladesh, under Sheikh Hasina, is a serious defaulter in all these areas. Accordingly, the US imposed sanctions on the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) of Bangladesh, otherwise known as “Killer Squad with Impunity”, and a few of its top officials, for proven involvement in gross human right abuses that include extrajudicial murders, enforced disappearances, unlawful arrests, and tortures. The US also excluded Bangladesh from Biden’s Democracy Summits in 2021 and 2022.
In May 2023, the US announced visa restrictions on election criminals of Bangladesh. These measures shook the Hasina regime, but its wrongdoings showed no signs of improvement and, in fact, deteriorated in many areas. The people are groaning under the heavy hands of repression, yet they cannot talk because of the draconian The Digital Security Act (DSA) punishes people for the slightest criticism of the regime and its corruption. Thousands, including minors, are languishing in jails under the DSA.
The next election in Bangladesh is due in 5-6 months and the political situation is turning from bad to worse due to the extreme opposing positions of the political forces. The Hasina administration wants to hold the election under its supervision, meaning another display of a totally rigged one. The opposition is determined not to participate in any fraudulent election under the illegal regime and wants it to be held under a neutral caretaker government (CTG). The CTG was a constitutional arrangement, and all the elections under it were generally accepted as fair and credible.
In 2011, taking advantage of its parliamentary majority, the Hasina government summarily quashed the CTG provision and reverted to elections under the sitting administration, thereby giving itself the carte blanche to manage elections, which it did in 2014 and 2018, plus thousand other local ones, to bring in almost 100% victory.
Madam Ambassador, there can be no credible election under the Hasina regime in Bangladesh. It must be conducted under an international or a local neutral CTG.
CHRD Bangladesh humbly requests, once again, to kindly take up the issues recommended by the bipartisan US Congress. The vast majority of Bangladeshis cannot voice their demands, but they silently and longingly look towards the powers who can make the changes, who can bail them out of this hapless situation. The US, the UN and the democratic West should not fail them.
Sincerely,
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh
Copy to:
Congressman Bob Good
UN Secretary General
US Secretary of State