Bangladesh risks the return of the rights abuses seen under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unless robust reform is instituted, an international NGO has warned.
The interim government in Bangladesh risks losing “hard-won progress” if it does not implement reform that can withstand repression by future governments, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Monday.
Ongoing arbitrary arrests and reprisal violence underscore the threat to “the country’s once-in-a-generation opportunity to end the legal abuses” that were seen on Hasina’s watch, the report said.
HRW used the publication to urge Dhaka to establish legal detention practices and repeal laws used to target critics.
“Reforms should be centered on separation of powers and ensuring political neutrality across institutions, including the civil service, police, military, and the judiciary,” it declared.
Return to abuses
Hasina fled into exile in August after mass protests ended her 15 years in power.
An interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has since taken charge of the country, pledging to institute far-reaching democratic reforms and stage new elections.
Human Rights Watch noted that Yunus’s administration has begun the process of reforming degraded institutions used as tools to persecute opponents of Hasina’s Awami League party.
But it also highlighted that in targeting the ex-premier’s supporters, the police have “returned to the abusive practices that characterised the previous government”.
Family members of those killed by security forces in the protests have been pressured into signing case documents without knowing who was being accused in their killings, according to the report.
The rights group also highlighted actions against journalists perceived to support Hasina’s government with at least 140 facing murder charges.
Accountable
“Nearly 1,000 Bangladeshis lost their lives fighting for democracy, ushering in a landmark opportunity to build a rights-respecting future in Bangladesh,” Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.
“This hard-won progress could all be lost if the interim government does not create swift and structural reforms that can withstand any repression by future governments.”
HRW recommended that the government seek help from United Nations rights experts to ensure lasting reforms.
Yunus’s government has yet to comment on the report.
The 84-year-old has said he inherited a “completely broken-down” system of public administration and justice that needs a comprehensive overhaul to prevent a future return to government abuses.
After his swearing-in in August, he told reporters: “Bangladesh is a family. We have to unite it. It has immense possibility.”
However, he has also said those who committed wrongdoing during Hasina’s tenure “will be held accountable”.
