22 August 2013: Bangladesh's persistent onslaught on democratic freedoms will seriously undermine development gains warns CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.
"CIVICUS is deeply concerned by growing intimidation tactics by the Bangladeshi government to silence critical civil society voices in the country," said Tor Hodenfield of CIVICUS.
Credible civil society sources estimate that at least 150 protestors have been killed and hundreds have been seriously injured by security forces in nationwide political protests that have rocked the country since the beginning of 2013. Police and paramilitary forces have been accused of acting with impunity and using excessive and indiscriminate force against protestors.
The Bangladeshi Cabinet recently passed an ordinance on 19 August to amend the Information and Communications Technology Act, increasing criminal penalties for violations from a maximum of 10 to 14 years while giving the police enhanced powers to arrest alleged offenders. The amendments to the law by the Cabinet come at a time when one of the country's best known human rights defenders, Adilur Rahman is in custody, accused of violating the law for publication of a report that documents the alleged killing of 61 people by Bangladesh's security forces.
"The Cabinet decision to introduce amendments to the law when Parliament is not in session, thereby pre-empting a debate, appears highly undemocratic," stated Hodenfield. "Moreover, the decision to detain Adil who heads Odhikar, one of the country's most prolific human rights NGOs, is designed to instil fear and deter independent civil society groups from criticising the government for human rights violations."
In its submission to the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process in October 2012, CIVICUS highlighted patterns of systemic threats to civil society freedoms of expression, association and assembly while making a number of recommendations to the government including the need to carry out impartial investigations into cases of attacks and harassment of civil society activists and journalists.
"We are urging the international community, including Bangladesh's development and trade partners to condemn the recent onslaught on civil society freedoms in the country and to engage Bangladesh's government to immediately stop the unwarranted harassment of activists," said Hodenfield.
