• Human Rights in Bangladesh
    Bangladesh’s government took no significant steps to investigate and prosecute torture in custody and extrajudicial killings during 2011. Although the number of killings by the paramilitary force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), dropped following domestic and international criticism, enforced disappearances increased. Activists and journalists were harassed or tortured. The government took some steps to promote women’s rights but failed to take adequate measures to protect women and girls from violence. Trials against those accused of war crimes during the 1971 war of independence were riddled with concerns over due process rights. Trials against members of the Bangladesh Border Guards accused in the 2009 mutiny were similarly rife with complaints.
  • Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a central executive committee member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is seen in a car as police arrest him in Dhaka June 29, 2010.
    © 2010 Reuters
    Bangladesh: Retrial Needed in Sayedee Case
    Frequent changes to the three-judge panel in the war crimes trial of Delwar Hossain Sayedee mean that a fair trial is no longer possible and a new trial should be held.
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Bangladesh

  • Bangladesh: Retrial Needed in Sayedee Case
    Dec 13, 2012
    Frequent changes to the three-judge panel in the war crimes trial of Delwar Hossain Sayedee mean that a fair trial is no longer possible and a new trial should be held.
  • Bangladesh: Investigate Alleged Abduction of War Crimes Witness
    Nov 13, 2012
    The Bangladeshi authorities should urgently investigate the alleged abduction on November 5, 2012, of a witness at the gates of the war crimes court in Dhaka.
  • UPR Submission: Bangladesh
    Oct 31, 2012

     

    Bangladesh’s human rights situation has seen little improvement since its first UPR review in 2009. A key undertaking in the 2009 UPR was 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: Mass Trials Do Not Bring Justice
    Oct 24, 2012
    The Bangladeshi authorities should halt ongoing mass trials, related to the 2009 mutiny by members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), which have been proven repeatedly to violate basic fair trial standards.
  • Bangladesh: End Harassment of War Crimes Defense Counsel
    Oct 17, 2012
    The raid, without any justification being given, by armed police on the offices of a prominent defense lawyer in the war crimes trials taking place in Bangladesh is a grave affront to the basic tenets of fair trials.
  • UN: Mark Day of Girl By Fighting Child Marriage
    Oct 10, 2012
    As the world celebrates the first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, 2012, eliminating child marriages should be a key political priority for governments to protect the rights of girls and women.
  • Bangladesh: Tanneries Harm Workers, Poison Communities
    Oct 8, 2012
    Workers in many leather tanneries in the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, including children as young as 11, become ill because of exposure to hazardous chemicals and are injured in horrific workplace accidents, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The tanneries, which export hundreds of millions of dollars in leather for luxury goods throughout the world, spew pollutants into surrounding communities.
  • Marriages: Made in Heaven, Living Hell for Many
    Oct 3, 2012
    Bangladesh's family laws for Muslims, Hindus and Christians, some dating to the 19th century, grant men far greater powers than women in marriage and accessing divorce. They do not recognise women's many contributions to marital homes, husbands' businesses and other family property. They give virtually no guidance to courts for determining maintenance amounts when marriages break down. Yet these laws have remained frozen in time for decades, and in some cases more than a century.
  • Trapped in an Abusive Marriage
    Oct 1, 2012
    When Namrata, a Bangladeshi Hindu, asked for a glass of water, her husband instead gave her a glass of acid. Today, with her mouth and throat destroyed, she eats through a feeding tube. Having already spent her life savings, her husband disappeared after the attack. Yet Namrata cannot legally divorce her husband due to Bangladesh’s archaic Hindu family laws.
  • Bangladesh: Discriminatory Family Laws Fuel Female Poverty
    Sep 16, 2012

    Bangladesh’s discriminatory personal laws on marriage, separation, and divorce trap many women and girls in abusive marriages or drive them into poverty when marriages fall apart. In many cases these laws contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill-health for divorced or separated women and their children. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recorded significantly higher levels of food insecurity and poverty among female-headed Bangladeshi households. 

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