Annual Human Rights Observation Report on Bangladesh
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AnnualAnnual Human Human Rights Observation Rights Report onObservation Bangladesh Report on 2015 Bangladesh 2015 HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORT CENTER (HRSC) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The overall human rights condition in Bangladesh was deteriorated in 2015 severally as the government limited political and civil society space, continued to keep abusive security forces from liability, especially ongoing extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, abduction, violence against women e.g. rape, gang rape, indiscriminate arrest and assault of opponent political leaders, intimidation and extortion by the law enforcing agencies along with the ruling party leaders were provoking situation very frightful. Sometimes we see law enforcement agencies and administration to some extent were involved with a violation of human right rather than protection of citizen's rights. Consequently, the state could not properly ensure justice, peace and security to its citizens. As a result, all sorts of monstrous activities including human trafficking, killing, abduction, disappearance, murder and torture were massively spread out in the society. Human rights violation related incidents sometimes come to the spotlight, sometimes remain behind the screen and sometimes published in media as scattered news which in turn may not reach to the general people. Human rights support center is working to collect and accumulate the human rights violation related news through newspaper and local representatives and then publish reports and Report in monthly,quarterly and yearly basis to make the general people and concerned authority about the human rights condition. Our constitution provides the right to life and personal liberty but in practice, there is no guarantee of human life. According to the source of human rights support center (HRSC), an almost 193 persons were killed extra judicially in 2015. The deaths were occurred during raids, arrests as well as during the law-enforcement agency‟s operations. The government often regretfully described these deaths as "crossfire/gunfights/encounter killings". Secondly, Enforced disappearances were continued during the last whole year, unfortunately, most of the cases allegation was against the security forces such as RAB, CID, DB and Police. According to HRSC monitoring, a total 50 people have been disappeared by LEA 39 incidents of disappearances with alleged ties to security personnel were held in the year of 2015. | 2015| Moreover, HRSC report found that in 2015, around 574 women were raped and among them 56 were killed after rape. A total of 139 women were killed for dowry, 189 females were sexually harassed and 42 have become victims of Acid violence. On the other hand, 43 Bangladeshi citizens were killed by BSF and 57 were injured, at the same time, 670 were killed in the violent attack. A total of 340 people have been abducted, among them 116 were rescued and 68 were killed after the abduction. In addition, 02 journalists were killed and 74 were seriously injured. Furthermore, 172 people in total were killed in political violence. At least 128 people were killed by public lynching.Notably, there were 265 incidents of criminal attack on minority, of them 02 men were killed and 70 were injured. Finally from the above-mentioneddata, it can be said that the human rights situation in Bangladesh is degrading day by day. However, we hope that this annual Reportwill assist the mass people, civil society as well as international communities to comprehend the current awful and shameful human rights situation of Bangladesh. We are deeply concerned about debasing human rights situation in our beloved country. We also urge national and international human rights organizations as well as every citizen to raise their voice to protect and promote human rights in Bangladesh. AnnualHuman Rights ObservationReport onBangladesh 1 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Page SL Topics Number 01 Executive Summary 01 02 Table of Contents 02 03 List of Figures 03 04 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 04 06 Violence Against Women 05 07 Extra-judicial Killing 16 08 Attack on Journalist 23 09 Enforced Disappearance 28 10 Violent Attack 32 11 Recovery of Dead Body 37 12 Political Violence 41 13 Abduction 44 14 48 2015| Attack on Minority 15 Border Dispute 50 16 Public Lynching 54 17 Election Violence and Vote Rigging 57 18 At a Glance 2015 62 19 Conclusion 63 20 Recommendation 64 Rights ObservationReport onBangladesh Annexure 21 66 AnnualHuman Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org 2 LIST OF FIGURE Page SL Figures Number 01 Statistics of Violence Against Women 06 02 Statistics of Rape 07 03 Monthly Comparison of Rape 09 04 Statistics of Dowry Related Violence 12 05 Monthly Comparison, Killed for Dowry 13 06 Attacks Using Acid on Females 14 07 Statistics of Extra-Judicial Killing 17 08 Monthly Comparison of Extra Judicial Killing 19 09 Categorized Representation of Encountered People 21 10 Statistics of Attack on Journalist 24 11 Quarterly Statistics of Attack on Journalist 26 12 Statistics of Enforced Disappearance 28 13 Monthly Comparison, Enforced Disappearance 30 14 The Number of Violent Attacks with Subsequent Consequence 32 15 Monthly Comparison between Killed &Injured People 34 | 2015| 16 Categorization of Recovery of Dead Body 38 17 Monthly, Dead Body Found in 2015 39 18 Killed in Political Violencecomparison from January to December 41 19 Statistics of Abduction 44 20 Monthly Comparison of Abduction in 2015 46 21 Statistics of Attack on Minority 48 22 Statistics of Border Dispute 50 23 Statistics of Killed in Public Lynching 54 24 Violence in City Corporation Election 57 24 Violence in Municipal Election 59 AnnualHuman Rights ObservationReport onBangladesh 3 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS APF : Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions BNHRC : National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh CAT : Convention against Torture CEDAW : Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CFNHRI : Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions CRC : Convention on the Rights of the Child CSOs : Civil Society Organizations DC : Deputy Commissioner DMC : Dhaka Medical College DUET : Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology DU : Dhaka University GOB : Government of Bangladesh HRSC : Human Rights Support Center HR : Human Rights HRC : Human Rights Commission ICC : International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions ICCPR : International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR : International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights NGOs : Non-Governmental Organizations NHRC : National Human Rights Commission | 2015| NHRI : National Human Rights Institutions NITOR : National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation RMG : Ready Made Garments TOTs : Training of Trainers TSC : Teacher-Student Centre UN : United Nations UNDP : United Nations Development Programme UNO : Upazilla Nirbahi Officer UP : Union Parishad VAW : Violence against Women Rights ObservationReport onBangladesh VAW : Violence against Women AnnualHuman Email: [email protected] | Website: www.hrscbd.org 4 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Violence against women is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. The Human Rights Support Center (HRSC) data indicated frightful incidences of violence against women in our country. Violence against women does not only include assault but also torture against their heart, physical or mental integrity, or freedom of movement. Violence against women is also as a powerful indicator of unequal power relations between men and women. Violence against women conflicts with the basic Human Rights, established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Such as violence denies women the right to life (ICCPR Article 6); right to be free from discrimination; right to health; right to bodily integrity; right to privacy; the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (ICCPR article 7); the right to liberty and security of person (ICCPR article 9); and the right to be free from all kinds of violence's including sexual violence. Early marriage and pregnancy are also violations of the rights of the girl child to equal opportunities in education and training. HRSC closely screens the whole condition of women and girls in Bangladesh and documented the issues relating to the violation of women rights. The major subjects of violation against women are dowry killings, rape, sexual harassment and stalking, acid attacks, physical and mental abuse. It is increasing day by day. Rape, sexual harassment, acid violence are increasing to a greater extent because mainly of political shelter and delaying judicial system. According to source of HRSC in 2015, incident of violence against women are- Rape: A total numbers of 574 females were alleged to rape in 2015. Among them, 56 females were killed after rape. Out of the 574, about 224 were below the age of 16. Almost 118 women subjected to gang rape. | 2015| Sexual Harassment: a total of 189 girls and women were sexually harassed. Dowry Related Violence: Approximately 223 incident of dowry-related violence were reported in 2015. About 139 were killed and 84 women were physically abused over dowry demands. Acid Violence: Around 42 female became victims of acid violence among them, 39 were injured another 3 died. Killed in Family Feud: About 169 women were killed in the family feud. Of them, 142 were