Three laws passed by the Jatiya Sangsad in September have reversed human rights protections and broken the ruling BNP’s reform pledges, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
The measures dismantle safeguards introduced by the interim government that ruled from August 2024 to February, weakening protections against abuses such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Two ordinances issued by the interim government to strengthen the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), giving it powers to prevent, investigate and pursue accountability for enforced disappearances.
After taking office earlier this year, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government legislated to strip the NHRC of independence and reduce its investigative authority.
The third law claims to abolish the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), long accused of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture. In practice, however, it merely renames the force while offering fewer safeguards than those applied to the regular police.
In a statement, HRW Asia Director Elaine Pearson said, “To prevent a return to the terrible abuses of the past, Bangladesh needs real security sector reform and an independent human rights body with the authority to investigate allegations of abuse.”
“The new government’s efforts to shield security forces from scrutiny and accountability offer no reason to trust that killings and disappearances will remain a thing of the past.”
Under the Awami League government led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, which ruled Bangladesh from 2009 to 2024, law enforcement agencies carried out widespread abuses, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests of critics, and excessive force against protesters. Although killings and disappearances have sharply declined, the Rahman government, like its predecessor, continues to hold hundreds of perceived political opponents in arbitrary detention, the HRW said.
The Awami League established the NHRC in 2009, but the body lacked independence and had no authority to investigate allegations against security agencies. Under the law then in force, commissioners were chosen by a committee dominated by government or government‑aligned officials. When allegations were made against law enforcement agencies, the NHRC could only request a report from the government and submit recommendations.
Interim government sought to strengthen the NHRC through an ordinance that gave it powers to investigate security agencies, created a more independent appointments process, and provided stronger arrangements for funding and staffing.
For the first time, it also established a National Preventive Mechanism, required under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, to inspect and monitor places of detention. However, once a new government was elected in February, the ordinance had to be confirmed or it would automatically lapse. And the BNP administration allowed it to lapse.
On 6 September, following a walkout by opposition legislators, parliament passed new legislation that prevents the NHRC from directly investigating alleged rights violations by security forces. Instead, it can only request a report from the agency accused, though a vaguely worded clause appears to permit the NHRC to open its own inquiry if the agency fails to respond or its report is deemed unsatisfactory.
The new law also restores government control over the appointments process, reduces the NHRC’s budgetary and administrative independence, and weakens the status and autonomy of the National Preventive Mechanism.
As with the NHRC created under the Awami League’s 2009 law, the legislation adopted by the current government fails to meet international standards for investigatory powers, political independence, and adequate resourcing under the Paris Principles, the minimum benchmark for national human rights institutions.
On 6 September, parliament also passed the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Act, which reverses reforms introduced by an interim government ordinance. While the lapsed ordinance had empowered the NHRC to investigate allegations of enforced disappearance, the new act instead assigns the task to a security agency other than the one implicated. The ordinance had also authorized the NHRC to monitor, inspect, and investigate detention facilities, including suspected secret sites, but those powers have now been removed.
The legal framework for command responsibility has been weakened. Previously, under standards drawn from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, officers could be held accountable for violations they should have known about and prevented. The new law requires proof of direct orders before a commanding officer can be held responsible for enforced disappearances.
On 10 September, parliament passed the Special Response Battalion Act, renaming the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which had been sanctioned by the United States for serious human rights abuses. Seven of its former senior officers remain under targeted US sanctions, and several ex‑members face trial at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for alleged crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearance.
Although the ruling BNP had previously called for RAB’s dissolution, the new law simply transfers its personnel, powers, and property to a rebranded force, the Special Response Battalion (SRB), which began operating on September 16. Even the logo is unchanged apart from replacing “RAB” with “SRB.” In May, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed suggested that renaming the unit might prompt the United States to reconsider sanctions. Human rights experts have criticized the law for lacking safeguards, training, oversight, or accountability provisions.
HRW urged Bangladesh’s international partners to press the government to ensure that forthcoming rules governing the SRB include rigorous human rights vetting of personnel, independent external oversight, safeguards on arrest and detention, preservation of RAB’s records and evidence, and an end to the routine deployment of seconded military personnel in civilian law enforcement.
The organisation said the US should maintain sanctions on the renamed entity until adequate measures are in place to guarantee respect for human rights and accountability for past violations. It also called on Bangladesh’s partners, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, to voice strong concern over the country’s emerging human rights record and policies.
“Tarique Rahman came to office promising reform, after protesters risked their lives to overthrow a government that had committed widespread and severe rights violations,” said Pearson. “It is deeply alarming to see the new government so quickly following in the abusive footsteps of Sheikh Hasina, because we have seen where this can lead.”
