Terming Bangladesh’s January 2014 national election “flawed,” the US State Department in its latest report said politically motivated and intra-party violence remained serious problems last year.
The State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 released on Thursday also criticised the government for not investigating the cases of arbitrary and unlawful killings committed by the “government or its agents.”
The report mentioned extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, restrictions on press and poor working conditions as the most significant human rights problems in Bangladesh.
It covers the countries that receive assistance from the US and the members of the United Nations. The Department of State prepared this report using information from US embassies and consulates abroad, foreign government officials, non-governmental and international organisations and published reports.
“After the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies boycotted the election and engaged in a series of violent strikes in a dispute over the composition of the government that oversaw the elections, the ruling party won the elections, with more than half of all seats uncontested.
“Most international observers characterised the elections as controversial and falling short of international standards due to the boycott. Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over security forces.”
With regard to the RMG sector, the report says violence, intimidation, and harassment against labour activists continued throughout the year.
It says 2014 saw unprecedented scrutiny of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry.
“New coalitions of multinational companies, international organisations, and labour rights groups worked with the Bangladesh government toward improving worker safety in thousands of garment factories. Significant concerns remain, however, with respect to workers’ rights to freely associate and collectively bargain.”
On women and child rights, it says: “Women suffered from unequal treatment. Early and forced marriage remained a problem. Many children were compelled to work, primarily in the informal sector, due either to economic necessity or in some instances trafficking.”
It also observed that discrimination against persons with disabilities was a problem, especially for children seeking admittance to public schools. “Instances of societal violence against religious and ethnic minorities persisted, although many government and civil society leaders claimed these acts had political or economic motivations and should not be attributed wholly to religious beliefs or affiliations.”
On extrajudicial killings, the report says: “The constitution provides for the rights to life and personal liberty; however, the media and local and international human rights organisations reported the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
“The government neither released statistics on total killings by security personnel nor took comprehensive measures to investigate cases, despite previous statements by high-ranking officials that the government would show zero tolerance and fully investigate all extrajudicial killings by security forces.”
While highlighting the government’s restriction on press and internet freedom, the report mentions about the contempt charge against British journalist David Bergman at the International Crimes Tribunal.
The other human rights problems included widespread official corruption, arbitrary arrests and detentions, weak judicial capacity and independence, and lengthy pretrial detentions.
The US report says the authorities infringed on citizens’ privacy rights while some NGOs faced continued legal and informal restrictions on their activities.
“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,” it adds.