Bangladesh failed to maintain effective control over security forces, says US report

The US annual human rights report has described extrajudicial killings as the most significant human rights problem in Bangladesh and blamed authorities for failing to control the security forces.

“Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over security forces,” said the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015, released on Wednesday in Washington.
 
The report identified forced disappearances, murders of secular bloggers and others ‘by groups espousing extremist views’, and restrictions on the media as serious human rights problems in the country.
 
According to it, other human rights problems included gender-based violence, torture and other abuse by security forces, arbitrary arrests and detentions, weak judicial capacity, and lengthy pre-trial detentions.
 
The report said authorities infringed on citizens’ privacy ,behaved in politically motivated manner and intraparty violence and official corruption were rampant.
 
It referred to continued ‘legal and informal restrictions’ on the activities of some nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and unequal treatment of women and girls.
 

Releasing the report at the US Department of State, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was opposed to the use of torture in any form at any time by any government or non-state actor.

“A government that fails to respect human rights, no matter how lofty its pretentions, has very little to boast about, to teach, and very little indeed in the way of reaching its full potential,” he said.

The report said weak regard for the rule of law not only enabled individuals, including government officials, to commit human rights violations with impunity but also prevented citizens from claiming their rights.

The government took limited measures to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse and killing by security forces, it added.

The US report said the government neither released statistics on total killings by security personnel nor took comprehensive measures to investigate cases.

Prison conditions remained harsh and at times life-threatening due to overcrowding, inadequate facilities, and lack of proper sanitation.

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According to the report, the Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, but the law permits authorities to arrest and detain persons suspected of criminal activity without an order from a magistrate or a warrant.

It said there were some limitations on freedom of speech. Some journalists self-censored their criticisms of the government due to harassment and fear of reprisal, it added.