Human rights violations ongoing even during interim government's tenure: UN Report

The United Nations' Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has found that human rights violations in Bangladesh did not only occur during the Awami League era, rather they are taking place during the interim government's tenure too.

The finding was shared between pages 53 and 57 of the 105-page fact-finding report, which was made public by the UN agency yesterday (12 February).

Divided into two broad sections, the human rights violations during the interim government's tenure include revenge abuses targeting police, Awami League and the media and abuses against members of distinct religious and indigenous groups, the report says.

According to the report, revenge abuses included lynching of Awami League members, police officials and journalists during and after the July uprising, burning and looting of police stations, attacks on Awami League offices and houses of the party leaders, burning of Dhanmondi-32 house belonging to Sheikh Hasina's family, sexual violence against female members of Awami League and attacks on journalists and media houses allegedly identified with Sheikh Hasina's government.

In addition to that, the OHCHR report also documented human rights violations against religious and indigenous communities since the interim government under Prof Muhammad Yunus took over, including widespread attacks on Hindu homes and establishments and attacks on indigenous communities living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) by Bengalis on allegations of being loyal to the former Sheikh Hasina government.

To cling on to power, the former Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government with all its political apparatus – including security and intelligence forces – used systematic and brutal violence against student-led mass protests in July-August last year, the OHCHR report found.

Based on testimony from senior officials and other evidence, the report highlighted serious human rights violations by security forces during the protests, including extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force causing serious injuries to thousands, mass arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture and other mistreatment.

These violations raise concerns under international criminal law, warranting further investigations to determine whether they amount to crimes against humanity, torture as a stand-alone crime, or serious violations under domestic law, according to the report.

Based on deaths reported by various credible sources, the report estimates that 1,400 people, around 12% of those were children, may have been killed between 1 July and 15 August last year, and over 13,500 were injured, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh's security forces.