Three laws passed by parliament in September have weakened human rights protections and backtracked on reform commitments made by the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.
According to HRW, the legislation removes safeguards introduced by the interim government, which governed Bangladesh from August 2024 to February 2026, potentially weakening protections against abuses such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
The interim government had introduced two ordinances aimed at strengthening the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), including by giving it powers to prevent and investigate enforced disappearances and seek accountability.
After being elected earlier this year, the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has legislated to reduce the NHRC’s independence and investigative powers, HRW said.
The third law, the Special Response Battalion Act, formally abolishes the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and establishes the Special Response Battalion (SRB). HRW said the law effectively renames the force while providing fewer safeguards than those applicable to regular police.
“To prevent a return to the terrible abuses of the past, Bangladesh needs real security sector reform and an independent human rights body with the authority to investigate allegations of abuse,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW.
“The new government’s efforts to shield security forces from scrutiny and accountability offer no reason to trust that killings and disappearances will remain a thing of the past,” she said.
NHRC reforms rolled back
Under the Awami League government of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, which ruled Bangladesh from 2009 to 2024, law enforcement agencies committed widespread abuses, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests of critics and excessive use of force against protesters, according to HRW.
Although killings and disappearances have declined sharply, HRW said the BNP government, like its predecessor, is holding hundreds of perceived political opponents in arbitrary detention.
The Awami League established the NHRC in 2009, but the commission lacked independence and had no authority to investigate allegations against security agencies, HRW said.
Under the previous law, a committee dominated by government or government-aligned officials selected the commissioners. When allegations were made against law enforcement agencies, the NHRC could only seek a report from the government and make recommendations.
The interim government introduced an ordinance to strengthen the commission by empowering it to investigate security agencies, creating a more independent appointments process and providing greater independence in funding and staffing.
The ordinance also established a National Preventive Mechanism to inspect and monitor places of detention, as required under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
However, the ordinance needed parliamentary confirmation after the February election or it would automatically lapse.
HRW said the BNP government allowed the ordinance to lapse. A new law passed on September 6, following a walkout by opposition lawmakers, does not allow the NHRC to directly investigate alleged rights violations by security forces.
Instead, the commission can request a report from the agency accused of the violation. HRW said a vaguely worded provision appears to allow the NHRC to initiate its own inquiry if the agency fails to respond or provides an unsatisfactory report.
The law also restores government control over the appointments process, reduces the commission’s budgetary and administrative independence, and weakens the status and independence of the National Preventive Mechanism.
HRW said the new law does not appear to meet the Paris Principles, the international standards for national human rights institutions, in terms of investigative powers, political independence and adequate resources.
Enforced disappearance law
Parliament also passed the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Act on September 6, reversing reforms introduced by an interim government ordinance, according to HRW.
While the previous ordinance empowered the NHRC to investigate allegations of enforced disappearance, the new law requires the government to appoint a security agency other than the one implicated to investigate such allegations.
The new law also removes the NHRC’s authority to monitor, inspect and investigate detention facilities, including suspected secret detention sites, HRW said.
The legal standard for command responsibility in enforced disappearance cases has also been changed.
Previously based on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the standard held commanders responsible for violations they should have known about and prevented. The new law requires evidence of direct orders to hold a commanding officer responsible for an enforced disappearance, according to HRW.
RAB renamed as SRB
On September 10, parliament passed the Special Response Battalion Act, renaming RAB as the Special Response Battalion (SRB).
RAB has previously been sanctioned by the United States over allegations of serious human rights abuses. Seven former senior officers have been placed under targeted US sanctions, while several former members are facing trial at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal over alleged crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearance.
The BNP had previously called for RAB’s dissolution.
Under the new law, RAB personnel, powers and property, including records, have been transferred to the SRB, which began operating on September 16, HRW said.
The organisation’s logo has also remained the same, with only the letters “RAB” replaced by “SRB,” according to the rights group.
In May, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said renaming the unit could lead the United States to reconsider sanctions against it.
Human rights experts have criticised the new law for what they say is a lack of safeguards, training, oversight and accountability.
HRW urged Bangladesh’s international partners to press the government to ensure that rules for the SRB include rigorous human rights vetting of personnel, independent external oversight, safeguards governing arrest and detention, preservation of RAB records and other evidence, and an end to the routine deployment of military personnel for civilian law enforcement.
The rights group also called on the United States to maintain sanctions on the renamed entity until adequate measures for human rights protection and accountability for past violations are in place.
It urged international partners, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, to express concern over what it described as the emerging human rights record and policies of the new government.
“Tarique Rahman came to office promising reform, after protesters risked their lives to overthrow a government that had committed widespread and severe rights violations,” Pearson said.
“It is deeply alarming to see the new government so quickly following in the abusive footsteps of Sheikh Hasina, because we have seen where this can lead,” she said.