US Report: Rights Stable in Bangladesh, Concerns Persist

The United States has said Bangladesh’s human rights situation stabilised after the July–August 2024 uprising, though serious concerns remain.

In its Bangladesh 2024 Human Rights Report, the US State Department noted that the country witnessed weeks of mass student protests last year, during which hundreds were killed in clashes with police and ruling party youth wings. On 5 August, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country, and on 8 August, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as Chief Adviser of an interim government.

The report said that while stability returned after some incidents in August, Bangladesh continued to face significant human rights issues—most of them under the previous government. These included credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, and transnational repression.

It also highlighted serious restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, including violence and threats against journalists, unjustified arrests, prosecutions, censorship, and constraints on workers’ rights, as well as the persistence of child labour in its worst forms.

The State Department said there were widespread reports of impunity for abuses during the Awami League’s tenure, with authorities rarely taking credible steps to hold officials or security personnel accountable.

Following the change of government, the interim administration arrested former officials accused of rights violations. Credible accounts from rights groups documented serious abuses by the Awami League’s student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, during the unrest.

According to the report, the interim government worked with the United Nations and used both the regular justice system and the International Crimes Tribunal to prosecute those responsible.