December 10, 2021 marks the International Day of the Disappeared.
In Bangladesh, there are still many people who have been disappeared by security forces, while their families are left completely in the dark about their whereabouts.
Human Rights Watch has documented that 86 people were forcibly disappeared since 2009, the year that Sheikh Hasina took office. These people remain disappeared to this day, while the government of Bangladesh consistently denies that its security forces are responsible for the enforced disappearances.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has been called by Human Rights Watch “notoriously abusive“, whereas on International Human Rights Day, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on top officials of RAB over its human rights abuses. A press statement issued by the Department of the Treasury, which added RAB as a foreign entity responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuse states:
“Today, on International Human Rights Day, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 15 individuals and 10 entities for their connection to human rights abuse and repression in several countries around the globe, pursuant to multiple sanctions authorities.”
According to Bangladeshi human rights organizations, RAB is responsible for more enforced disappearances than any other government agency.
In October of 2020, a bipartisan team of 10 US Senators published a letter calling for sanctions against top RAB officials for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and torture.
In August 2021, a formal submission was made to the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office recommending sanctions for 15 current and former senior RAB officers for alleged involvement in human rights abuses and corrupt practices under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020.
The sanctioning of RAB and its top officials is a testament to the gravity of the human rights violations committed by the Bangladesh government.
The Bangladesh government should immediately refrain from persecuting innocent family members of the disappeared and provide information as to the whereabouts of their loved ones.
*The Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh), a nonprofit organization registered in the United States. https://chrdbangladesh.org/
December 12, 2021
CHRD Bangladesh is a US registered nonprofit organization with a growing global membership.
