On 13 March, the Bangladesh Governments spokespersons made their official comments on the human rights report published by the Department of State of the government of the United States of America. The Bangladesh authorities reaction was published in most of the national daily newspapers the following day. According to a report which appeared in The Daily Star on 14 March, the spokesman said, -the US state department’s Human Rights Practices Report 2007 on Bangladesh [is] disappointing for its “lack of balance” in presenting the country’s ground realities.
The spokesperson said, The government is, however, disappointed at the report’s lack of balance as evidenced in its failure to mention the significant reform measures taken by the caretaker government for consolidating and sustaining democracy. These include the restructuring and empowering of the Election Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The spokesperson said, The report could further mention the initiatives taken with a view to establishing a National Human Rights Commission and promulgating the Right to Information Ordinance. These landmark reform initiatives would significantly improve democratic practices, leading to promotion and protection of human rights in a sustained manner,” the foreign ministry spokesperson added.
Replying to a question from the media as to whether the government will protest the report, Home Adviser, Major General (Rt.) M.A. Matin, while commenting on the report after a meeting on law and order at his ministry, said, “We will have to think about our reality from our perspective.”
It is not strange that the Bangladesh Government terms the US Department of States report as ‘imbalanced. Throughout the previous decades all the governments of Bangladesh have made similar comments. Whenever any rights group or international community pinpoints the loopholes and disasters of the human rights arena of the country the government denies the findings without holding any investigation into the matters raised. Such comments by the government, which are now almost standardized, represent their mindset.
While terming the US governments report as lacking balance the Foreign Ministry spokesperson acknowledged that there are incidents of extrajudicial killings in the country, which have significantly dropped in number, without indicating as to whether any of the past violations have been investigated or prosecuted.
Take the example of crossfire killings in Bangladesh. The cases of crossfire killings require thorough and trustworthy investigations as any other crimes. In the past, the Bangladeshi authorities have utterly failed to prosecute anyone including the police, the Rapid Action Battalion and the armed forces, for the extrajudicial killings.
Had the authorities even minimum respect for human rights and the intention to improve upon them, in reality, there would not have been extrajudicial killings in the first place. Indeed they must put a stop to that policy and prosecute the alleged perpetrators. The number of extrajudicial killings, if they have dropped in comparison to any certain period of time, does not guarantee that they will not set a new record in the near future, and it does not make for any sense of improvement. The reality only proves that the authorities have failed to ensure the protection of the citizens lives while in the custody of the law enforcement agencies.
Although the Bangladeshi authorities did not clarify what elements might be required for the report to be balanced so it is not clear what the governments Adviser, wishes to establish by mentioning the excuse of ground realities.
The ground reality, according to the documents relating to human rights abuses in Bangladesh, is that the authorities do not have any respect for the human rights and the fundamental rights of the citizens. As a result, the law enforcement agents realise this and they take full advantage of it. In response, the authorities that patronize, nourish and prefer such abuses, award the perpetrators with impunity.
The Report by the State Department stated:
- – The government’s human rights record worsened, in part due to the state of emergency and postponement of elections. The Emergency Powers Rules of 2007 (EPR), imposed by the government in January and effective through year’s end, suspended many fundamental rights, including freedom of press, freedom of association, and the right to bail. The anticorruption drive initiated by the government, while greeted with popular support, gave rise to concerns about due process. For most of the year the government banned political activities, although this policy was enforced unevenly. While there was a significant drop in the number of extrajudicial killings by security forces, they were accused of serious abuses, including custodial deaths, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists. Some members of security forces acted with impunity and committed acts of physical and psychological torture. Violence against women and children remained a major problem, as was trafficking in persons.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Bangladeshi authorities to launch thorough investigations into the cases of alleged human rights abuses reported by the US Department of State. By holding impartial investigation the authorities will benefit in two ways: a. whether the alleged human rights abuses did take place or not, that would be clear to the nation, if the investigation reports are published in public unlike the existing practice of shelving them forever; b. by conducting investigations and publishing the reports the authorities will learn how to admit the fact, instead of denying them consecutively and endlessly.
