Freedom of expression still 'in crisis' in Bangladesh: Article 19 report

The state of freedom of speech and expression is "in crisis" in Bangladesh, as the country scored the lowest in the category of "Journalists' freedom to work without any intimidation", according to the latest report by ARTICLE 19, a British human rights organisation.

The Global Expression Report 2024 ranked Bangladesh 128th out of 161 countries in terms of freedom of expression, with a score of 12 out of 100. Countries getting between 0-19 are categorised as "in crisis".

In its report last year, ARTICLE 19 gave Bangladesh a score of 13 out of 100 and ranked it 131st out of 161 countries.

The organisation's South Asia and Bangladesh Regional Director, Sheikh Manjur-E-Alam, presented the latest report at a hotel in the capital today (21 May).

The report noted that across South Asia, countries are experiencing a dearth of freedom of expression and among the eight countries in the region, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan are at a stage of "critical" condition.

Since 2007, Bangladesh's score in the category of journalists' freedom has been declining, as well as its score in media self-censorship, the report said, adding that this trend has been ongoing for more than one and a half decades.

Bangladesh also scored the second lowest among the South Asian countries, with only Afghanistan scoring lower than Bangladesh.

The report said the state of freedom of expression in India and Afghanistan is also "in crisis". India scored 19 out of 100, and Afghanistan 2.

Nepal remained at the top position in South Asia, scoring 57 out of 100.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Daily Prothom Alo Joint Editor Sohrab Hasan were also present at the press conference where the report was presented.

In his remarks, Iftekharuzzaman said, "A culture of fear has been created for the media and civil society in the country. Freedom of expression has been held hostage by power politics."

Syeda Rizwana Hasan noted, "The horror cannot be understood from the score. The mentality of the government is to control. A government cannot control dissent if it is truly democratic."

According to the ARTICLE 19 report, Bangladesh scored completely negative on all 25 indicators used to prepare the report. The worst situation is government censorship on social media. It also scored poorly on freedom of assembly and freedom of academic and cultural expression.

The global report also said that the index of freedom from political killings in Bangladesh is in a critical condition.

However, Bangladesh showed positive results in the index regarding freedom of religion and discussions on gender issues.