Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
A year after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Bangladesh’s interim government under Nobel peace prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has made limited progress on its human rights promises, despite initial hopes following the 2024 uprising.
In a report published Wednesday, HRW acknowledged the end of enforced disappearances and systemic fear under Hasina’s regime, but said arbitrary detentions, lack of security sector reforms, and rising mob and political violence persist.
“The hope of the thousands who braved lethal violence a year ago… remains unfulfilled,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at HRW. “The interim government appears stuck, juggling an unreformed security sector, violent religious hardliners, and political groups more focused on vengeance than rights.”
The rights group cited pending recommendations from 11 national reform commissions, the UN, and local and international activists, while also noting a surge in violence against journalists and minorities, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
HRW reminded that Hasina fled on August 5, 2024, after weeks of protests that saw over 1,400 killed. Yunus’s administration was formed three days later but has struggled to deliver accountability. It cited ongoing torture, custodial deaths, and the July 16 Gopalganj clash where five were killed in violence involving security forces and Awami League supporters.
The report flagged mass arrests of over 92,000 people between August and September 2024. More than 1,170 cases have been filed against 400 former AL leaders. One such detainee, ex-mayor Atiqul Islam, was charged in 68 murder cases, though 36 occurred when he was reportedly abroad.
While urging prosecution of those responsible for past crimes, HRW said many arrests appear “arbitrary and politically motivated.” It also criticized the limited accountability within the security forces, noting that only 60 officers have been arrested for July–August violence involving multiple police and military units including the RAB.
HRW called on the Yunus-led government to end arbitrary pretrial detentions, ensure judicial independence, prosecute rights abusers in the security forces, disband the Rapid Action Battalion, prioritize women’s rights and representation. It also urged the international community to impose targeted sanctions on known violators and deny UN peacekeeping roles to implicated personnel. “No one doubts the enormous challenges facing the Yunus government,” Ganguly said. “But more needs to be done now to ensure a real and lasting change in Bangladesh’s human rights situation.” She added, “Political parties that were once victims should now help build protections so such abuses can never recur.”