LOOKING BACK 2019 369 killed extrajudicially as rights abuses go unabated

Rights activists expressed concern over continued rights abuses in Bangladesh throughout 2019, saying that the government was giving priority to social, cultural and economic issues but ignoring the civil and political rights of the citizens.

Recurring extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, custodial torture and arbitrary arrests in alleged ‘false’ or ‘political’ cases coupled with shrinking space for freedom of expression were the key barriers to the protection of civil and political rights in the country, they said.

According to rights organisation Odhikar, at least 369 people were killed extrajudicially under the guise of ‘gunfight’, ‘crossfire’ or ‘gun-battle’ between January and November 30, 2019.

Of them, 191 were shot dead by the police, 96 others by the Rapid Action Battalion and 53 others, including many Rohingyas, by the Border Guard Bangladesh.

The number of extrajudicial killings was 466 in 2018, 155 in 2017 and 178 in 2016.

 Odhikar records show that a total of 2,290 people were extrajudicially killed in so-called ‘gunfights’ or ‘crossfires’ after the Awami League came to power in 2009 with the promise in December 2008 to end extrajudicial killing.

 Odhikar stated that at least 28 people were victims of enforced disappearance in the first 11 months of 2019. Of them, 13 returned alive and six others were found killed. The whereabouts of the nine others could not be confirmed till December 1.

The rights organisation recorded 546 cases of enforced disappearance, reported between January 2009 and November 2019, saying that the whereabouts of 166 victims – including opposition political leaders, a former military official, and a former lawmaker – were still unknown.

Rights campaigners, academics and jurists said that due attention to and respect for civil and political rights would help ensure social and economic rights and sustainable development in the country.

They also expressed concern over the recruitment process for the National Human Rights Commission while the UN stands ready to help Bangladesh with a review of the NHRC Act and its selection procedure, which the UN considers ‘a key after almost ten years of institution-building’.

Asked about the rights situation in 2019, noted jurist Shahdeen Malik started with criticising the ‘so-called election’ held on December 30, 2018 which he considered as ‘a fundamental denial of human and  constitutional rights’.

‘Secondly’, he said, ‘there was clear criminalisation of freedom of expression since many criminal cases were filed against people for speeches that were deemed offensive to the government.’

‘Thirdly’, he went on, ‘extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances continued with full impunity.’

His fourth observation was that the right to exercise freedom of association through gathering, meeting and protest, among others, was practically non-existent during the year.

‘Right now, I am not very optimistic that there would be fewer violations of human rights in the coming year,’ he said, adding, ‘One can hardly expect anything different from a government not elected properly and not accountable to the parliament.’

Odhikar president and Dhaka University retired professor CR Abrar, the university’s law professor and former NHRC chairman Mizanur Rahman and rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra’s executive director Sheepa Hafiza accused the government of ignoring civil and political rights.

They cited the continued and growing number of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, custodial torture and reports of arbitrary arrests.

Mizanur said that they saw ‘false cases’ as a major barrier to establishing people’s civil and political rights and the Digital Security Act, enacted in 2018 amid large-scale local and international condemnations and widely enforced in 2019, as a threat to democratic space.

 Rights group ASK recorded at least 64 people to have been killed in so-called mob beatings during the first 11 months of 2019.

Sheepa Hafiza said that they considered the large number of mob beatings in the year as a major rights violation.

She mentioned that journalists were prosecuted in January 2019 for publishing news reports about the controversial parliamentary elections held in December 30, 2018, adding that journalists were also complaining against the Digital Security Act 2018.

 Reporters without Borders in January condemned the serious press freedom violations that accompanied the 30 December elections in which journalists were attacked or jailed and a television news channel was taken off the air.

 Mizanur said that the DSA was weaponised instead of using it in the protection of information and technology advancement.  

‘The government has to establish the rule of law not a rule by law,’ he said.

He observed that the government did well in protecting people’s socio-cultural and economic rights but ‘we have to keep in mind that charity is not rights’.

The police headquarters are yet to disclose the total number of cases filed under the DSA across the country.

But the Dhaka Metropolitan Police headquarters officials said on December 30 that some 224 cases were filed under the act in the Dhaka metropolitan city alone in 2019 mostly over social media abuses.

In a very recent instance, a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader on Friday lodged a complaint accusing Dhaka University Central Students’ Union vice-president Nurul Huq Nur under the act for his Facebook live streaming, which criticised BCL leaders for their alleged involvement in killing, attacking and extorting people.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami mouthpiece Daily Sangram editor Abul Asad on December 13 was arrested and remanded in a case lodged under the DSA for publishing a report terming convicted and executed war criminal Abdul Quader Molla a martyr.

Government-backed Muktijuddho Mancha, said to be a pro-liberation youth platform, on December 13 staged protests over the incident, set copies of the newspaper on fire in front of its office and later vandalized the office.

While enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and custodial torture are going unabated in the country the National Human Rights Commission is busy dealing with crimes of general nature, corruption, extortion, drug abuse, violence against women and public service delivery-related issues.

 According to an NHRC meeting resolution on August 1, 2019, the immediate past commission disposed of 2,508 complaints in their three-year tenure leaving 295 cases pending.

 But ‘most of the pending complaints are related to allegations against law-enforcement agencies over extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,’ one of the commission officials has said recently who closely monitored its investigations.

About the statutory body’s poor performance and its criticism by rights activists, NHRC permanent member Kamal Uddin Ahmed has recently said that there would be criticism but the commission is increasing its activities gradually.

He further said that they were now giving priority to the complaints over violence against women, extortion, rape, murder, drug abuse and social violence.

The UN commended Bangladesh’s commitment, as a member of the Human Rights Council, to

implementing its national human rights obligations and to developing an implementation plan for

recommendations received from international mechanisms.

 UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said earlier this month that Bangladesh was vocal about its commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

‘The Sustainable Development Goals are interdependent and rights-based. Only with due attention to civil and political rights will social and economic rights and sustainable development be achieved,’ she added.

‘We are keen to support progress with a Universal Periodic Review plan and with the implementation of crucial commitments made by the treaty body mechanisms, most recently the Committee against torture,’ Mia stated.

She also said, ‘We would welcome lawmakers, the judiciary and law enforcers alike taking fresh action to ensure that guarantees against arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment are strictly enforced and there is no impunity.’

Law minister Anisul Huq, who represents the state at the UN over the rights-related issues, said that he found the overall rights situation in the country ‘far better’ than any other time as the prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led government believed in democracy, rule of law and justice. 

He claimed that the government agencies were never endorsed for carrying out any extra-judicial killing and being involved in enforced disappearances, adding that the victims in many cases were found alive and many people went into hiding on their own.

He commented that law-enforcement agencies should be allowed to work too.

On December 19, a High Court Division bench formed with Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath directed the Police Academy to teach trainee police officers about human rights and other provisions of the Constitution.

The media and public relations wing of the police headquarters has started distributing texts about constitutional rights of the people to its members on a daily basis. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net