Posted by: Farzana Yesmin
on Aug 06, 2009
Bangladesh has a consistently poor record in protecting human rights, especially its tolerance of political violence. The former BNP government made little effort to investigate a succession of unsolved murders of members of the opposition Awami League. The notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) set up in 2004 to fight crime is considered by Human Rights Watch to be "a government death squad" responsible for hundreds of cases of torture and extra-judicial killings.
The period under the caretaker government has therefore been tense for human rights observers, concerned about the conditions of the state of emergency and about the unfettered role of the army in police activities. Accusations of arbitrary detention, torture and killings have continued, especially in mid-2008 when the security forces indulged in mass arrests of thousands of local leaders and politicians for no apparent reason other then intimidation.
A more positive initiative was the planned National Women’s Development Policy, a move to legislate for improved property rights for women and quotas for certain decision-making positions. However, strong protests by religious interests claiming that the move would be “anti-Islamic” were sufficient for the government to lose interest in the proposal. Legislation to abolish child labour has also been neglected, even for those in traditional craft industries ranked as hazardous occupations. Estimates suggest that as much as 15% of the entire Bangladesh workforce is comprised of children.
Apart from state-controlled Radio Bangladesh and Bangladesh Television, there is diversity of media sources through satellite TV and privately owned newspapers. But the security of journalists themselves is under threat from the increased criminalisation of Bangladesh politics. The Committee to Protect Journalists has declared Bangladesh to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the profession, especially those reporting on corruption or crime.
