Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, opines that ‘Recent legislative initiatives by Bangladesh’s interim government risk threatening of fundamental freedoms. The HRW said the Interim government has ordered a “temporary” ban on all Awami League activities on May 12, however, the draft legislation to address enforced disappearances and the party’s past crimes does not meet international standards.
It said the ban on the Awami League will stay in place until party leaders have faced trial for abuses committed during the 15 years they were in power. Prohibition of any kind of campaign, gathering, and publication of its supporters curtail their freedom of speech. As a result of the suspension, the Election Commission stripped AL of its registration.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, “Sheikh Hasina’s government abused legal powers to silence political opponents, but using similar methods against the supporters of her Awami League would also violate those same fundamental freedoms.” “The draft legislation on enforced disappearances, on the other hand, does little to advance justice or provide answers for the hundreds of victims and families affected by disappearances under Hasina’s rule,” she added.
Suspected supporters of the Sheikh Hasina regime including actors, lawyers, singers, and political activists have been arrested on politically motivated murder charges, with prosecutors accusing them of supporting a fascist as justification for the arrests.
On August 27, 2024, the interim government established a commission of inquiry to investigate enforced disappearances committed under Hasina’s rule. In its preliminary report, the commission announced that it recorded 1,676 complaints, and that the whereabouts of some 200 victims remain unknown. The commission has sought an extension until December 2025 to submit all its findings.
While the proposed disappearances law would establish a new National Commission on the Prevention and Remedy of Enforced Disappearances, there are no provisions to ensure its independence. However, other aspects of the law are problematic: while the legislation would criminalize anyone who aids, abets, instructs, orders, or conspires in a disappearance, it sets a stricter threshold for the application of command or superior responsibility compared to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
According to the Rome Statute, a military commander who knew or should have known about crimes being committed by subordinates but failed to act to prevent the crimes or hand over those responsible for prosecution is criminalized.
Despite that, the draft law excludes command responsibility based on constructive knowledge and states that the superior must have “exercised authority in an act connected with the disappearance”. It also fails to distinguish between military and civilian commanders, which have different requirements for command responsibility under the Statute.
In the instances where the victim is killed, the death penalty would apply, although that is inherently abusive and incompatible with human rights and human dignity, says Human Rights Watch.
As a consequence of this lack of address regarding enforced disappearances, families of victims seek justice if the victim cannot be returned safely. In contrast to their expectations, some families have reported intimidation, including Sanjida Islam, coordinator of a victims’ organization Mayer Daak, whose family home was raided by police on May 8.
HRW says the priority should be to deliver justice for human rights violations, particularly unlawful killings and enforced disappearances. To build a foundation for the respect of human rights in Bangladesh, the interim government focus on prosecuting members of the former government accused of crimes based on credible evidence gathered by the commission of inquiry.