HalfHalf-YearlyYearly Human HumanRights Observation Rights Bulletin Observationon Bangladesh Bulletin on Bangladesh [Type the document subtitle] January-June, 2016 HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORT CENTER (HRSC) EDITORIAL Human rights are rights that hold to be „inalienable‟ and belong to all humans, according to natural law. Human rights are fundamental or basic rights. Fundamental rights cannot, rather must not, be denied or resisted by any legislative or government actions and are often set out in a constitution.1 Human rights are protected and upheld by international and national laws and treaties. All human beings are born free and equal. Human rights advocates agree that sixty years after its adoption, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. The state is the defender of all sorts of human rights. The Constitution of Bangladesh recognizes all forms of human rights i.e. civil and political rights, social, economic and cultural rights. Civil and political rights are recognized as „fundamental rights‟ which are directly justiciable, i.e. a person can file a petition before the High Court in case there is a violation of her fundamental rights. In the Foreword of the Bangladesh Constitution it is declared, “Further pledging that it shall be a fundamental aim of the state to realize through the democratic process to socialist society, free from exploitation-a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens”.2 In spite of having such constitutional obligation, human rights are drastically violated in the country. In the first six months of 2016, According to our half yearly human rights observation bulletin, violation of women rights, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, attack on minorities, indiscriminate arrest and torture by law enforcement agencies; political violence, border killing, and violence and manipulation of local election revealed a very glooming scenario of the overall human rights situation in Bangladesh. The situation reached such abysmal state that even the common people feel insecure everywhere whether it‟s their bedroom or street. Finally, I would like to thank all my associates for their hard work to publish this half yearly bulletin. Whole credit for whatever we could achieve goes to them. I also thank the executive committee member of HSRC for their full cooperation given in the development of our carrying out our duties. I hope that your cordial consultation and support will help us to make this Bulletin more qualitative and encourage us to keep a vibrant role in human rights sector. YearlyRights Human ObservationBulletin on Bangladesh - 1 Human rights and governance training manual by ELCOP and manusher jonno. Page 03, Half 2 http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/print_sections_all.php?id=367 1 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Human Right Support Center (HRSC), a Bangladesh-based human rights organization, was founded in 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is dedicated to ensuring all sorts of human rights for people through building awareness as well as monitoring and publishing human rights situation, providing legal aid to the poor and victims, helping destitute people and conducting advocacy with the government and other concerned authorities from home and abroad. HRSC also encourages the inclusion of common people in various human rights activities. As part of its mission, HRSC regularly publishes monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly human rights observation bulletin based on twelve prominent national newspapers of the country. As part of this initiative, HRSC has published half-yearly Human Rights Situation Analysis bulletin from January to June 2016 based on data collected from the dailies and fact-finding reports from its regional representatives throughout the country. It is observed that the violation of human rights continues almost with the same flow as before. From this report, it is evident that extra-judicial killing, domestic violence, abduction, arbitrary arrest, election violence and vote rigging have increased tremendously. Moreover, the number of rape, gang-rape, and child-rape has also increased unexpectedly. According to the sources of HRSC, at least 92 persons were killed extra-judicially from January to June 2016. Out of them, 57 people were killed in the name of ‘crossfire/gunfights’, 04 were tortured to Death, 15 were shot to death and 16 died in the custody. The deaths occurred during raids, arrests as well as during the operations conducted by the law- enforcement agencies (LEAs). As usual, the government regretfully describes these deaths as "crossfire/gunfights/encounter killings" and so on. The occurrences of enforced disappearances were also continued during the first six months of 2016. Unfortunately, most of the cases of enforced disappearances are accused against the security forces such as RAB, DB, and Police. According to HRSC monitoring, a total 12 persons have been disappeared by the law enforcement agency in different incidents with alleged ties to security personnel during the reporting time. Moreover, the HRSC report finds that from January to June 2016, a total 362 females were raped. Among them, 248 victims were adult whereas alarmingly 114 were children under 16. It’s a rising concern in the incidence of raping crime that among victims at least 51 of them have been gang-raped. Among the victims, at least 23 were brutally killed after being raped. From January to June 2016, about 127 women were killed in the family feud and 38 females injured. Out of them, 207 were an incident of Family Feud. Approximately 106 incidents of dowry-related violence were reported. About 74 were killed and 32 women physically abused over dowry demands. A total of 134 girls and women were reportedly victims of sexual YearlyRights Human ObservationBulletin on Bangladesh harassment. Among them, 104 were assaulted and 30 stalked. Around 20 females became - Half Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org 2 victims of acid violence, and among them of 24 were injured and 01 died between January and June 2016. It has also been reported that a total of 227 people were abducted in different areas of the country, among them approximately 135 were male, 41 female, 51 children, and 39 were killed after the abduction. Moreover, unexpectedly enough, at least 47 people were killed in political violence whereas around 56 people were killed through lynching. HRSC also tracked the election-related violence from the media. A total of 2605 people were seriously injured. Around 86 were killed in UP election-related violence. The bulletin is also said that a total of 232 people were bullet hit during the election. In most of the cases, it is observed that the key reason behind the growing election violence is the rising intolerance among the defeated candidates, clashes between supporters of the rival candidates, illegal capturing of the vote centers, and forceful termination of voting during the election hours and so on. On the incidents of attacks on minority, as documented by HRSC in the first six months of 2016, at least 09 men were killed, around 04 houses and 13 temples attacked, and 36 minority members injured in a total of approximately 38 incidents. It is alarming that in 108 violent incidents against children, 44 lost their life and 131 were critically injured in the first six months of 2016, as reported by HRSC. On the violent attacks on unarmed civilians, a total of 365 incidents happened where 350 were killed and 363 seriously injured, and roughly 68 persons were hit bullet. On the other hand, due to the silence of the Government combined with its loose foreign policy with India, unexpected occurrences increased in the border area of the country. Bangladeshi citizens became the victims of suspected killings, torture, and other forms of inhumane treatments. It has been reported that as many as 13 Bangladeshi citizens were killed, 15 injured, and nearly 28 arrested by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF). Such human rights violation has not even been reported to the respective high commission in some cases. As a result, such events have been increasing day by day. HRSC expects that this bulletin will help mass people, civil society organizations as well as an international community by providing them with a concrete and evidential exposure to current dreadful and degrading human rights situation in Bangladesh. HRSC is deeply concerned about the degradation of human rights condition in the country. It urges both public and private human rights organizations as well as common citizens to raise their voice to protect and promote human rights in Bangladesh. YearlyRights Human ObservationBulletin on Bangladesh - Half 3 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org TABLE OF CONTENTS SL Topics Page Number 01 Editorial 01 02 Executive Summary 02 03 Contents 04 04 List of figures 05 05 List of acronyms & abbreviations 06 06 Extra-judicial Killing 07 07 Violence against Women 16 08 Attack on Journalist 20 09 Attack on Minority 23 10 Border Dispute 25 11 Violence against Children 28 12 Enforced Disappearance 30 13 Violent Attack 32 14 Recovery of Dead Body 34 15 Political Violence 36 16 Abduction 38 17 Public Lynching 41 18 Election Violence and Vote Rigging 43 19 Inhuman Torture and Shooting by Enforcement Agency 46 20 Half -Yearly Human Rights Report At A Glance 47 21 Conclusion 48 22 Recommendation 49 23