Special Focus
  • Human Rights in Bangladesh
    Bangladesh’s overall human rights situation worsened in 2012, as the government narrowed political and civil society space, shielded abusive security forces from accountability, and ignored calls to reform laws and procedures in flawed war crimes and mutiny trials. The security forces disguised extrajudicial killings as “crossfire” killings. Opposition members and political activists “disappeared.” Flawed trials against those accused of war crimes in the 1971 war for independence continued. When Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh from persecution in Burma, the government pushed back boatloads of refugees, insisting that it had no obligation to provide them sanctuary.
  • Activists of Hefajat-e Islam confront police officers during a clash in Narayanganj on May 6, 2013.
    ©2013 Reuters
    Bangladesh: Independent Body Should Investigate Protest Deaths
    The Bangladeshi authorities should immediately set up an independent commission to investigate the large numbers of deaths and injuries during the Hefazat-e-Islaam-led protests in Dhaka and elsewhere on May 5-6, 2013.
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Bangladesh

  • World Environment Day: a day like any other for Abigail Chombo
    Jun 5, 2013
    When basic human rights, like the rights to life, health, food, information, justice, participation and assembly are not respected, the global environmental movement loses a critical ally -- citizens around the world for whom the protection of rights and the environment are one and the same. In violating their rights, the marginalization of many of these people limits their ability to affect positive environmental change.
  • Bangladesh’s other workplace catastrophes
    May 20, 2013
  • India: Protect Bangladesh War Crimes Trial Witness
    May 16, 2013
    The authorities in India and Bangladesh should take all necessary steps to protect Shukhoranjan Bali, a long-missing witness in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Bangladesh: Independent Body Should Investigate Protest Deaths
    May 10, 2013
    The Bangladeshi authorities should immediately set up an independent commission to investigate the large numbers of deaths and injuries during the Hefazat-e-Islaam-led protests in Dhaka and elsewhere on May 5-6, 2013.
  • Bangladesh: End Unlawful Violence Against Protesters
    May 3, 2013
    With new protests planned in the coming days, the Bangladeshi government should ensure that the security forces immediately end their practice of using excessive force against protesters. The government should appoint an independent commission to investigate the deaths of dozens of protesters, including children, since large-scale street protests began in February, and prosecute anyone responsible for unlawful killings and use of force.
  • Bangladesh: Tragedy Shows Urgency of Worker Protections
    Apr 25, 2013
    The collapse of an eight-story factory building near Dhaka shows the urgent need to improve Bangladesh’s protections for worker health and safety.
  • Polluting Tanneries in Bangladesh Face Fines
    Apr 18, 2013
    For probably the first time, Bangladesh’s government has leveled pollution-related fines against two leather tanneries in Hazaribagh, a Dhaka neighborhood so polluted with waste from its roughly 150 tanneries that residents and workers are plagued by serious health problems.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Bangladesh
    Apr 18, 2013
    Bangladesh’s human rights situation has seen little improvement since its first UPR review in 2009. A key undertaking in the 2009 UPRwas to take a “zero tolerance” stand against abuses by security forces, and bring an end to impunity. Yet extrajudicial killings by the country’s security forces continue with impunity.
  • Letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Regarding the Killing of Aminul Islam
    Apr 17, 2013
    I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch to follow-up on our earlier letter to you on April 11, 2012 that raised our grave concerns about the killing of Aminul Islam of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS).
  • Bangladesh: Still Waiting for Justice One Year After Labor Leader’s Killing
    Apr 17, 2013
    The Bangladesh government should ensure a thorough and swift investigation, and publicly report on the progress made into the disappearance, torture, and killing of prominent labor rights activist Aminul Islam, Human Rights Watch said today in a public letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.
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