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.
  • Relatives cry for loved ones trapped in the collapsed Rana Plaza building outside Dhaka on April 24, 2013.
    (c) 2013 Reuters
    Bangladesh: Tragedy Shows Urgency of Worker Protections
    The collapse of an eight-story factory building near Dhaka shows the urgent need to improve Bangladesh’s protections for worker health and safety.
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Bangladesh

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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: Crackdown on Bloggers, Editors Escalates
    Apr 15, 2013
    The Bangladesh authorities should immediately drop charges against and release four bloggers and a newspaper editor arrested this month.
  • Italy: Leather Buyers Beware
    Apr 2, 2013
    (Barcelona) – Leather buyers at an international leather fair in Italy should only purchase leather goods from tanneries that comply with laws that protect the right to health and labor rights, Human Rights Watch said today as the fair opens in Bologna. Such compliance should include respecting both national and international environmental standards. Tanneries in the Hazaribagh area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, do not meet these criteria, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Bangladesh: End Violence Over War Crimes Trials
    Mar 1, 2013
    The Bangladeshi government and the Jamaat-e-Islaami party need to act urgently to ensure that security forces and party supporters do not engage in further acts of violence, which has already led to the death of over 40 people since February 28.
  • Bangladesh: Post-Trial Amendments Taint War Crimes Process
    Feb 14, 2013
    Retroactive legislation that violates fair trial standards undermines the legitimacy of the work of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
  • Bangladesh: Government Backtracks on Rights
    Feb 1, 2013
    Bangladesh’s human rights situation worsened in 2012 as the government sought to narrow political and civil society space, continued to shield security forces from prosecution for abuses, failed to investigate disappearances and killings, and announced stringent rules to monitor non-governmental organizations, Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 World Report released today.
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