Extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances drop dramatically after US sanctions against RAB: HRW

Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh dropped dramatically following the US sanctions against Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its top commanders back in December 2021, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report. 

It said the downward trend indicates that authorities have the ability to bring security force abuses under control.

The rights group, in the annual report reviewing human rights standards in nearly 100 countries, claimed that instead of taking steps toward reform, authorities in Bangladesh launched a campaign of threats and intimidation against human rights defenders and families of victims of enforced disappearances. 

On a critical note, the HRW alleged that, "Despite a temporary drop in abuses following the announcement of US sanctions, security forces showed signs of returning to old practices, targeting the ruling Awami League's political opponents and critics." 

It claimed that the government dismissed the allegations that led to sanctions, saying they were "false and fabricated" and in January authorities awarded two sanctioned RAB officials prestigious police medals for their "bravery and service" to the country.

"On 14 August, Netra News – which is blocked in Bangladesh – published a whistleblower report revealing that Bangladesh officials were allegedly holding and torturing victims of enforced disappearance at a secret detention site.

"The torture and death in custody of Indigenous activist Nabayan Chakma Milon shed light on security force abuses in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, and land-grabbing, with little redress," the HRW further highlighted.

In addition, the HRW noted that authorities have intensified restrictions on the livelihoods, movement, and education of the Rohingya refugees currently residing in Bangladesh, adding that the international attention to this humanitarian crisis has waned and efforts to help them remain severely underfunded.

The HRW also stated that the attacks against members of the political opposition in Bangladesh are rising and expressed concerns about violence and repression ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. 

The rights watchdog made separate segments on Bangladesh as an overview of the events that took place last year to shed light on a number of categories – Attacks on Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Expression, Covid-19, Women and Girls' Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Disability Rights, Rohingya Refugees, Climate Change Policies and Actions and Key International Actors.

It wrote that the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly prepared a list of dissidents abroad who are committing "anti-state" activities, and authorities are increasingly targeting relatives of expat dissidents, adding that the government also increasingly targeted human rights organisations. 

Bangladesh authorities continued to arrest its critics under the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) and the government has ignored pleas from the UN and international partners to suspend and reform the abusive law, the annual report added.

The rights body, citing children's rights advocates, also raised concerns that thousands of students in Bangladesh, after almost 18 months of Covid-19-related school closure (one of the longest in the world) were not returning to school and instead that many of these children were pushed into child labour amid the economic fallout during the pandemic.

Women in Bangladesh continue to have little recourse to seek protection, services, or access justice in case of domestic violence. Bangladesh continues to have one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, HRW claimed.

It also wrote that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and advocates in Bangladesh faced violence and threats without adequate protection from the police as same-sex here is criminalized with penalties from 10 years to life in prison. 

HRW also recognised Bangladesh as one the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite having contributed little to the greenhouse gas emissions causing rising temperatures.