Lasting reforms needed in Bangladesh to stop abuses: HRW

Bangladesh's interim government has taken significant strides towards a democratic and rights-respecting future, but its progress could evaporate without deep institutional reform and international support, Deputy Asia Director at the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Meenakshi Ganguly said today (16 January).

"The interim government needs to protect Rohingya refugees, support credible investigations and reparations for enforced disappearances and provide for civilian oversight over security forces," Ganguly said in HRW's World Report 2025 released today.

Bangladesh's interim government, led by Nobel Prize laureate Mohammed Yunus, has set up a commission to investigate enforced disappearances and pledged reforms and accountability for rights abuses under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian rule, said the report.

The interim government should reform institutions in line with international human rights standards with the help of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, disband the notorious Rapid Action Battalion, reform security forces to ensure independent oversight and accountability, and pursue justice for the victims of enforced disappearances and their families, said the HRW, adding that interim government pledged accountability and credible elections.

It should also ensure unfettered access for human rights monitors to the Chittagong Hill Tracts and work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to register Rohingya refugees so that they can access protection, medical care, and food rations, it said.

The report mentioned that during the crackdowns on student-led protests over three weeks in July and August, over 1,000 people were killed and many thousands injured due to excessive and indiscriminate use of ammunition by security forces.

For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries.

In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists and journalists.

Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies, according to HRW.

Activists have raised concerns that security forces have continued to carry out abuses, including arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters and journalists and denying them due process and proper access to legal counsel.

While the interim government acceded to the United Nations Convention on Enforced Disappearances, security forces have failed to release those unlawfully detained or provide answers to their families about what happened to them, said the HRW.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled Myanmar and are living in refugee camps are at risk of violence at hands of armed groups and gangs. Unregistered refugees risk hunger and do not seek health care out of fear that they will be returned to Myanmar.