Course Title: Human Rights and Political Violence

Course No: 803

Department of Political Science

University of Dhaka

Dhaka-1000

Assignment Topic:

Enforced Disappearance, Extrajudicial Killings, and Torture:

Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh

Course Teacher Submitted by

Dr. Dil Rowshan Zinnat Ara Nazneen Akhi Nur
Professor Roll: 96, Section: A
Department of Political Science Department of Political Science
University of Dhaka University of Dhaka

Submission Date: 25th October, 2022

Introduction: Bangladesh is a peaceful democratic country. Everyone has right to life and
liberty which is guaranteed by the constitution. Modern concept of Human Rights are inherent
rights that people entitle irrespective of nationality, race, religion or any other familiarity without
discrimination. Examples of human rights and freedoms include civil and political rights, such as
the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law, and social,
cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the
right to work, and the right to education. But today one of the major concerns of the country
seems to be violation of the fundamental rights and Human Rights of its citizens.

Bangladesh has earned notoriety in carrying out extrajudicial killings. The rights to life and
personal liberty are under threat in Bangladesh, despite the fact that they are guaranteed by the
Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Article 32 says: “no person shall be
deprived of life or personal liberty, save in accordance with law”. According to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted in 1966 and ratified by Bangladesh in 2000,
“every human being has the inherent right to life”. The Covenant also says: ‘this right shall be
protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”  Different terminologies have
been used by the law enforcement agencies to distract from extrajudicial killings; such as, deaths
during ‘cross-fire’, ‘encounter ‘, ‘gunfight’ etc.(Odhikar,2022).

Conceptual Framework

Human Rights: “Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of our
nationality, residence, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, national or ethnic origin, color,
religion, language or any other status” (Sutto, 2019).

Enforced disappearance: It is particularly a heinous violation of human rights and an

international crime. An enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention,
abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or
groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State,
followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate
or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection
of the law (ohchr, 2010). The authority is accused to engage here are RAB, Police, Joint Force
(RAB, Police & BGB), DB, Industrial Police, Ansars, DGFI and others (Odhikar,2022).

Extrajudicial killing: It is an arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life and simply a murder. An

extrajudicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of
any judicial proceeding or legal process. Extrajudicial killings often target leading political, trade
union, dissident, religious, and social figures. Accused involving authorities are RAB, Police,
Joint Force, BGB, Army, Ansar, Coast Guard, DB police, Forest Guard, Jail authority, Navy,
drugs and narcotics control department, railway police and river police and others
(Odhikar,2022).

Torture: According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “No one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The UN Convention
against Torture defines ‘torture’ as an act ‘by which severe pain or suffering is intentionally
inflicted on a person, notably when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or with the consent of a
public official. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to
lawful action’. Torture is used for purposes such as obtaining information or statements, or as a
means of punishment or discrimination (Odhikar,2022).

Evolution of Human Rights

The modern concept of human rights has developed through various evolutionary and
revolutionary events. Some significant stages are-

Cyrus-Cylinder Period, 539 BC: The ideal pinpoint and origin can be traced back to the 539
BC when the great King Cyrus conquered Babylon. He declared the freedom of slaves, equal
rights of all races and independence of religion. He recorded his philosophies in a cylinder later
known as Cyrus Cylinder. The first four articles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights are
inspired from Cyrus Cylinder (Sutto, 2019).

The Magna Charta, 1215: The promulgation of Magna Charta, 1215 is another cornerstone in
the history of Human rights. The treaty initiated the concept of ‘Rule of Law’, some basic rights
and liberties and protection from arbitrary prosecution and incarceration. The rule of law is now
considered as one of the key principles of good governance in any modern democratic countries
(Sutto, 2019).

English Bill of Rights, 1791: The Bill enacted into law in 1689 by William III and Mary II who
took over the English reign and overthrew King James II. The Bill recognized some basic
constitutional and civil rights that established parliamentary supremacy over absolute monarchy.
Experts considered the Bill as the introduction of constitutional monarchy and inspiration for the
American Bill of Rights in 1791 (Sutto, 2019).

Declaration of Rights of Men and Citizen, 1789: The Declaration adopted by the First French
National Assembly in 1789. It was spirited by the French revolution and recognized the slogans
of the revolution –liberty, equality and fraternity- as human rights. The first Republic declared
that all “men are born and remain free and equal in rights” which spread the rights of liberty,
private property, security from violation and assault and free from oppression. The Assembly
ensured equal participation of population in the form of both direct and indirect, guarantee from
arresting without legal order, ensured freedom of religion, speech, inviolable rights of private
property and so on (Sutto, 2019).

The Geneva conventions and Hague convention expressed deep concern over basic human
dignity and honor during wartime and posed the foundation of international humanitarian laws.
Later the League of Nations attempted to promote the rights of minorities groups. International
Labor Organization was established to look after the rights of health, safety of workers (Sutto,
2019).

After the WWII, the issue of Human Rights became stronger due to the devastation and high
violation of people’s rights and got current form of institutional and at the global stage and
conscience. The concepts like ‘crimes against humanity’ and ‘crimes against peace’ introduced
worldwide (Sutto, 2019).

The global leaders then established the United Nations to bolster international peace and protect
and mitigate conflicts. The global leading powers along with the UN took firm determination to
save the following generations from further scourge of wars that brought untold sorrow to the
mankind. As a result, the first article of the charter affirmed “to achieve international co-
operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian
character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (Sutto, 2019).

Enforced disappearance

Enforced disappearance’ is particularly a heinous violation of human rights and an international

crime. It affects victims in many different ways, including constant fear for their lives. Their
families desperately wait for news that might never come. The disappeared person is removed
from the protection of law, a fundamental right.

In recent years, instances of enforced disappearance are on the rise in Bangladesh. People are
abducted and disappearing from various places in broad day light by the men claiming to be
members of law enforcement agencies. Some are recovered as dead after they were abducted. In
many cases, families of the disappeared claim that law enforcing agencies picked up the victims.
But the law enforcing agencies deny any knowledge about the disappeared.

Worryingly, RAB has recently begun to engage in enforced disappearances, perhaps as a way of
hiding its involvement in killings. They are picking up people, often in plainclothes, and then
there is no word. Any unit can operate anywhere. Sometimes bodies turn up in some other
district. This is a new trend. Disappearance is unexpected for everyone. It is a direct violation of
human rights. It also creates uncertainty and fear in the society. So government should take
necessary action against unlawful disappearance (Odhikar,2022).

Increasing custodial torture

Custodial torture is a serious threat to human rights. In most cases detainees being tortured by
law enforcement agency after the arrest. Torture methods include beating, kicking, suspension
from the ceiling, food and sleep deprivation, and electric shocks to the genitals are generally
used by law enforcement agency. Detainees have been tortured until they confessed they were
criminals. A number of victims have told Amnesty International that they were threatened with
crossfire if they did not confess. After confessing, victims were handed over to the police, who
then filed criminal cases against them based on RAB’s claims. Arrest dates in these cases have
been recorded as the day the victim was handed over to the police and not the day RAB made the
arrest. In this way, the police have helped RAB distort the records and cover up the human rights
violations it has committed. So custodial torture is a serious threat to human rights.

Torture is a serious violation of human rights and it cannot be justified under any circumstances.
Despite the claim of ‘zero tolerance’ on torture, the Government has not taken steps or effective
measures to curtail torture and other forms of custodial violence and acts of impunity by law
enforcement officers. It is hoped that the new torture prevention law will play an effective role in
controlling such an offence (chompa,2015). 
 Crossfire/ Encounter/ Gunfight in the Name of Extra Judicial Killing

The term Extra Judicial Killing means the killing someone/others without following legal justice
system, laws and constitution. Such killings are prohibited by the Bangladesh's Constitution and
national laws. It has been made an integral part of the law-enforcement system of Bangladesh for
many years. The ongoing trend of extrajudicial killing has few different methods of which killing
criminal suspects with point blank gunshots and publicizing stories of so called "crossfire" or
"encounter" or "gun fight”. These three terms are commonly used in law enforcement to define
extra judicial killing. Crossfire is a media created term. Media uses ‘Crossfire’ as killing of
listed/arrested criminal through firing while so called escaping from law enforcing personnel
where the crossfire victims have right of proper justice. Encounter is a legal term where the
criminals attack the law enforcing personnel who exercise the right of private defense. Gunfight
is a military term where two parties are involve in face to face collision (kamruzzaman,2016)

US sanction on RAB: After the independence, it is accused that the first government initiated
the bloody inhuman practices with the help of Jatiya Rakhi Bahini (National Security Force).
The victims were mainly from political activists of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, JSD (National
Socialist Party), rebel military personnel and other opposition political party members
(Mascarenhas, 1986, P-113).

Generally the enforced disappeared people’s fate are unknown. There is a trends of killing in
secret detention or remain unknown for a longer time. The ruling Awami League party came to
power with the promise of ‘zero tolerance’ towards human rights violations, the practice of
extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. But the Human Rights Watch recorded since
2009 to till 2016, at least 320 cases of disappearance (HRW, 2017). On the other hand, the Asian
Human Rights Commission recorded since January 2009 until 2016 over 300 cases of enforced
disappearance by law enforcing agencies (New Age, 2016). In the statistics of Ain o Salish
Kendra, a record of 614 cases of forced disappearance have been found within 2007 to 25 th
August, 2022 (Kaler Kantha, 2021). There was a rising tendency in pre-sanction period.

After the imposed sanction on RAB and its top officers, the incidents like extrajudicial killing
came to ‘zero’ level until 17th April, 2022. On 17th April a case of ‘crossfire’ occurred in Comilla
(BBC Bangla, 2022). However, before the sanction, the cases of enforced disappearance,
extrajudicial killing were regular and routine. So, it is actually deny the fabricated new highlight
of government as well as law enforcing agencies to justify their crimes. And it is also proved
that, if government want then these types of incidents can be stopped.

Human Rights situation in Bangladesh

Human rights violation by government agencies has become mundus operandi. It includes
enforced disappearance, ill-treatment, torture, extrajudicial killing, harassment and unlawful
detention (OMCT, 2022, AI, 2022).

Oppression over journalists and media control: Media and journalists are the mirror and
considered as defenders of Human rights. Government have enacted some so-called security acts
like ‘Digital Security Acts-2018’ and ‘Article 54’. Under these acts, government limited
activities of journalists, media and political opponents and monitor, inspect and evaluate them.
Government use the laws to suppress, threaten harshly and silent their voices. Government
arrests human rights and media activists, sometimes they die due to severe torture (ldid,). Human
Rights Watch’s evaluation as “government doubled down on an authoritarian crackdown on free
speech, arresting critics, and censoring media. Arrests under the abusive Digital Security Act
(DSA) increased dramatically” (HRW, 2022, AI, 2022).

Restriction on Politics: Government imposed unreasonable and serious restrictions, harass party
members. Law enforcing agencies unlawfully and illegally arrest, threaten and harshly torture
them. They crackdown on political party member’s families, house and even business
institutions. Government imposed restriction on political assembly, shut down transportation,
accommodation facilities and even in microphone and speaker uses (BD US Embassy Report,
2022; AI, 2022).

Besides, the right to health is not in proportion to need. Many patients return from hospitals due
to not getting proper treatment and hospitals authorities also accuse that they don’t get
appropriate equipment. Labors don’t get their rights including salary, health equipment and other
necessary allowances. Whenever they demand their rights, salary and do movement law
enforcing agencies brutally and inhumanly suppress them (HRW, 2022; AI, 2022).

Cultures of immunity: Security forces are regularly abusing human rights including enforced
disappearance, ill-treatment, torture, extrajudicial killing, harassment and unlawful detention but
they are getting impunity from government except some rare cases. The UN rights commission
has expressed concerns over continuous allegations against Law enforcing agencies whose
accountability is illusory. Even after the US sanctions, government justified their activities and
decry the measure (ldid). Human Rights Watch described the situation as “Impunity for abuses
by security forces, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, remained
pervasive” (HRW, 2022; AI, 2022).

Conclusion: Bangladesh started its journey as an independent country with constitutional and
political commitment to safeguard the human rights for all its citizens. Unfortunately, what we
have been witnessing over the years is a serious disregard for this commitment without any
exception whether the country was ruled by a ‘democratic’, ‘military’ or ‘civilian-military’
government. Lack of respect for democratic norms and values, denial of space for opposing
political views, and marginalizing the weaker sections of the have created the conditions.

Bangladeshi Peoples are in a continuum to be victim of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial

killings and tortures since immediately after independence. Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director
Brad Adams said that “Bangladesh security forces appear to have a free hand in detaining
people, deciding on their guilt or innocence, and determining their punishment, including
whether they have the right to be alive” (HRW, 2017).

In Bangladesh, people are forcedly disappeared, abducted from different place including office,
home, educational institutions, street and others by members claiming law and enforcing
agencies in day and night. Some abducted are found dead, some returned but remain silent and
the rest stay unknown for infinite time. There are laws against all kinds of human rights
violations but the policing and justice systems are weak and often subservient to the government
of the day. The ‘violators’ in most cases go scot-free because they either belong to the ruling
party or have enough money and influence to escape the net of justice.

References

Amnesty International. (2022). everything you need to know about human rights in Bangladesh.
Accessed on 15th September, 2022 from https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-
pacific/south-asia/bangladesh/report-bangladesh/

Kaler Kantha. (2021). 614 missing in 15 years! Accessed on 11th September, 2022 from
https://www.kalerkantho.com/online/national/2021/08/30/1068409

Kamruzzaman, M., Khan, B., U. & Das, S., K. (2016). Extrajudicial Killings: The Violation of
Human Rights in Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Planning and
Management, 2 (4), PP. 20-28.

Mascarenhas, A. (1986). Bangladesh - A Legacy of Blood. United Kingdom: Hodder &

Stoughton. p. 113.

News Bangla24. (2022). Is the disappearance in the country decreasing? Accessed on

11September, 2022 from https://www.newsbangla24.com/news/204695/Is-the-disappearance-in-
the-country-decreasing?

New Age. (2016). 300 victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh since 2009: AHRC.
Accessed on 10 September, 2022 from https://www.newagebd.net/article/2268/300-victims-of-
enforced-disappearance-in-bangladesh-since-2009:-ahrc

Chompa, G. (2015). Extra judicial killing and violation of human rights in Bangladesh

Zahid, O. (2022). Extrajudicial Killings in Bangladesh: Holding the State Accountable. The
Global Policy Institute.
Odhikar,(2022). Extrajudicial killing. http://odhikar.org/extrajudicial-killings/

Odhikar,(2022). Enforced disappearance. http://odhikar.org/enforced-disappearances/

Odhikar,(2022). Torture. http://odhikar.org/torture/