On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on August 30, 2023, The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) condemns the enforced disappearances of hundreds, mostly opposition political activists, in Bangladesh under the administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power without the mandate of the people since 2009. CHRD Bangladesh also demands that the whereabouts of the victims be intimated, and that they be returned to their families at the earliest.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups asked the government of Bangladesh to urgently end and criminalize the practice of enforced disappearances. They also called upon the government to ensure truth, justice and reparations for the victims and their families. In addition, 12 groups that included leading local and international rights organizations, issued a Joint Statement urging: “(the Bangladesh) government must cease enforced disappearances, stop harassment of the victims’ families and hold perpetrators accountable.”
According to Odhikar, a Bangladeshi human rights group, more than 600 people have been forcibly disappeared by the security forces of the current Awami League government. Thousands of people, including minors, are languishing in jails under the detested Digital Security Act (DSA) for such “offenses” as criticizing the government policy or its rampant corruption, or even writing a parody line on the ruling family.
Additionally, the security forces continued to harass the families of the victims to withdraw their complaints or sign prepared statements exonerating the government forces. The ruling party activists even tried to assault US Ambassador Peter Haas when he visited one of the victims’ families in December 2022. The regime is refusing to work with the United Nations Working Group to investigate the enforced disappearances.
“Members of a death squad (aka, RAB) should not be deployed in UN peacekeeping missions abroad,” urged Brad Adams, the executive director of the Asian division of Human Rights Watch.
The US Chapter of Amnesty International urged its government to hold Bangladesh accountable for its “obligation to the United Nations Human Rights Council.” It also asked its Congress to ensure that the “US does its part to stop the devastating crime of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.”
In fact, in the run up to the national election due in January 2024, the authoritarian regime has intensified its spate of repression targeting the political opposition, independent media and journalists, and civil society activists. The regime seems determined to replay the farcical and fraudulent elections as it orchestrated in 2014 and 2018, bringing home almost 100% victory for the ruling candidates. The repeated international calls for a free, fair, and participatory election in Bangladesh fall on deaf ears. The opposition is campaigning for the election to be held under a neutral, non-partisan Caretaker Government. A group of US Congressmen also demanded the election under a neutral authority.
On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, CHRD Bangladesh remembers all the victims of enforced disappearances and their loved ones in Bangladesh and all over the world.
