'Vast majority shot by security forces': UN says 1,400 killed, including children, in July uprising
The United Nations Human Rights Office released a fact-finding report this afternoon (12 February) detailing human rights violations during Bangladesh's student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
Around 1,400 people may have been killed between 1 July and 15 August, and thousands were injured, a report by the UN Human Rights Office has found.
Drawing on testimony of senior officials and other evidence, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh's security forces.
Of these, the report indicates that as many as 12-13 percent of those killed were children.
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The Bangladesh Police reported that 44 of its officers were killed.
Having been at the forefront of the early protests, women, including protest leaders, were also subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment and attacks by security forces and Awami League supporters.
The report documents gender-based violence, including physical assaults and threats of rape, aimed at deterring women from participating in protests.
It also found police and other security forces killed and maimed children, and subjected them to arbitrary arrest, detention in inhumane conditions and torture.
In one of several deadly cases documented, a 12-year-old protester in Dhanmondi died from internal bleeding caused by some 200 metal shot pellets.
Also among those killed were very young children who were brought by their parents to protests, or who were shot as bystanders.
In one case in Narayanganj, a six-year-old girl was killed by a bullet to the head while standing on the roof of her building observing violent clashes at a protest.
On 5 August – the final and one of the deadliest days of the protests – a 12-year-old boy who was shot by the police in Azampur recalled that police were "firing everywhere like rainfall". He described seeing at least a dozen dead bodies.
