The government of Bangladesh is responsible for the most heinous human rights violations including extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. Since attaining state power in January 2009, the current authoritarian regime led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has committed grave atrocities on its citizens. Under the direct instructions from the highest authority, the law enforcement agencies have indulged in the practice of every possible form of human rights abuse with complete impunity.
General Aziz Ahmed, the recently retired Army Chief of Bangladesh, in a telephone conversation with his exiled friend and coursemate, Colonel Shahiduddin Khan, has named Major General Tariq Siddiqui, Defense Advisor to the Prime Minister, Major General Jubair, Chief of National Security Intelligence and Brigadier General Ziaul Ahsan, a former Operation Chief of RAB, as the masterminds of all extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh. According to the former Army Chief, all the three alleged masterminds take direct instructions from the autocratic Prime Minister.
The Government of Bangladesh has destroyed democracy, made the judiciary completely dysfunctional and continues to deny rights of freedom of speech. The government has made all forms of dissent illegal by the enforcement of the most draconian and repressive laws. An environment of fear pervades the state that has silenced civil society. Human Rights Watch notes in its World Report 2021, “Bangladesh’s Awami League-led government doubled down on an authoritarian crackdown on free speech, arresting critics, and censoring media. Arrests under the abusive Digital Security Act (DSA) increased dramatically, impunity for abuses by security forces, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, remained pervasive”.
The Government of Bangladesh continues to ignore and dismiss recommendations by the United Nations and members of the International Community with regards to its abysmal human rights record and destruction of democracy. The United States government has imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the virtual death squad of the regime and its seven senior officials, including the current Inspector General of Police on 10 December 2021, on the occasion of The International Human Rights Day. The Deputy Secretary of the United States Treasury, Wally Adeyemo said, “On International Human Rights Day, the Treasury is using its tools to expose and hold accountable perpetrators of serious human rights abuse”.
Instead of taking any corrective measures to improve the horrible human rights situation and punish the offenders, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh has ridiculed US democracy and its justice system for their actions. It should be noted that Sheikh Hasina has clung to power for more than a decade, without any mandate of the people by unleashing a reign of terror.
We, the Coalition of Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh), welcome the decision of the US government and fully support the declaration of President Biden and his administration that democracy and human rights should be the cornerstone of US foreign policy. Under the circumstances, CHRD Bangladesh appeals to the UN to henceforth, stop the recruitment of members of RAB and the Bangladesh Police in the peacekeeping missions of the United Nations. Violators of human rights in their own country have no right to serve in the peace missions anywhere in the world. We hope the UN will take punitive measures swiftly against the Government of Bangladesh that abuse the state power to inflict sufferings to its own people.