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Report finds only 2 percent of human rights defenders in Bangladesh feel safe – JURIST

A report released Saturday on the treatment of human rights activists in Bangladesh found that at least 65 percent of surveyed human rights defenders said that the ruling Awami League party, law enforcement and intelligence services have obstructed their work.The report entitled “Who Defends the Defenders?” was produced in collaboration between the Centre for Governance Studies and 50 human rights defenders in the region.It ultimately found that the overwhelming majority (86 percent) of human rights activists face a myriad of challenges, with 62 percent claiming the overall environment of their work is “very unsafe” or “unsafe.” Additionally, 42.3 percent noted that threats, intimidation and persecution came from sources connected to the state, including law enforcement, state intelligence agencies and government officials.This intimidation resulted in 28.6 percent of respondents scaling down their work as a result, while 10.7 percent felt compelled to leave their areas. Further, many of these threats went unreported by victims (36 percent) due to a lack of trust in the legal system (20.5 percent), fear of retribution (20.5 percent) or the absence of proper investigations (17.8 percent).The report also highlighted that the situation in Bangladesh has been criticized by international human rights organizations for years. For example, in 2021 Frontline Defenders, a Dublin-based international organization reported, “Human rights defenders in Bangladesh face judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest, fabricated charges, abduction, physical attacks, torture, and extrajudicial killings.”Similarly, in June 2022 the Asian Human Rights Commission claimed, “Human rights defenders, dissidents, and political opposition survive in a profoundly dangerous condition of civic space in Bangladesh.”These comments align with the Reporters Without Borders 2023 Press Freedom Index, which ranked Bangladesh 163 out of 180 countries. They noted that, “Exposed to police violence, attacks by political activists and murders orchestrated by Jihadist or criminal organisations, Bangladeshi journalists are all the more vulnerable because this violence goes unpunished.”Ultimately, the report highlighted a sense of anguish felt by human rights defenders in the region “regarding the system that has failed to protect human rights as well as human rights defenders,” a situation which, from their perspective, is worsening.