Bangladesh
30.04.04
Urgent Interventions
Bangladesh: Attack on the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM)
URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY
BGD 002/0404/OBS 029
Attack on NGO / Threats
Bangladesh
April 30, 2004
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bangladesh.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed that the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in Dhaka was attacked on April 17, 2004.
According to the information received, officers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the ruling party, under the leadership of a local Member of Parliament, broke into the premises around 8 pm on April 17, 2004, ransacked and looted the offices, and assaulted the office assistant, Kazi Shuash Hasan, who was later taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. They allegedly occupied the premises until April 22, 2004.
The perpetrators of the attack reportedly threatened local members and staff of HRCBM, including Advocate Dulal Choudhury, Vice President of HRCBM-Dhaka, of serious consequences if the incident was reported. Lalbag police station allegedly refused to register a case at first, but later allowed the case to be registered. However, none of the perpetrators have been arrested, although they were seen near the HRCBM offices.
HRCBM, a human rights and humanitarian organisation, has been running a campaign to depict human rights abuses against minorities in the country, namely wide spread gang rape, state discrimination and religious intolerance. As part of its activities, HRCBM has also filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, the country’s highest institution of justice, concerning the protection of religious and ethnic minorities. This petition is still pending.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by this attack on a human rights organisation, which contravenes the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 12.2 which provides that “[t]he State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities of Bangladesh urging them to:
i. guarantee HRCBM members’ physical and psychological integrity;
ii. ensure an immediate investigation into the circumstances of these events, identify those responsible, bring them before a civil, competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
iii. put an end to any act of violence against human rights defenders and human rights organisations;
iv. ensure the implementation of the provisions on the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular Article 1 which states, “Every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level”, as well as its Article 12.2 mentioned above;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international instruments ratified by Bangladesh.
Addresses :
- Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Office of the Prime Minister, Gona Bhaban, Sher-e Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fax: + 880 2 811 3244/ 3243/ 1015 / 1490, Email:pm@pmobd.org or psecretary@pmobd.org
- Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat, Building 4, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Ambassadeur, Ali, Toufiq, Rue de Lausanne 65, CH-1202, Genève, Suisse, e-mail : mission.bangladesh@ties.itu.int, mission.bangladesh@bluewin.ch fax: +4122 738 46 16
- Please also write to the embassies of Bangladesh in your respective country.
Paris - Geneva, April 30, 2004
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : + 41 22 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch
BGD 002/0404/OBS 029
Attack on NGO / Threats
Bangladesh
April 30, 2004
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bangladesh.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed that the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in Dhaka was attacked on April 17, 2004.
According to the information received, officers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the ruling party, under the leadership of a local Member of Parliament, broke into the premises around 8 pm on April 17, 2004, ransacked and looted the offices, and assaulted the office assistant, Kazi Shuash Hasan, who was later taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. They allegedly occupied the premises until April 22, 2004.
The perpetrators of the attack reportedly threatened local members and staff of HRCBM, including Advocate Dulal Choudhury, Vice President of HRCBM-Dhaka, of serious consequences if the incident was reported. Lalbag police station allegedly refused to register a case at first, but later allowed the case to be registered. However, none of the perpetrators have been arrested, although they were seen near the HRCBM offices.
HRCBM, a human rights and humanitarian organisation, has been running a campaign to depict human rights abuses against minorities in the country, namely wide spread gang rape, state discrimination and religious intolerance. As part of its activities, HRCBM has also filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, the country’s highest institution of justice, concerning the protection of religious and ethnic minorities. This petition is still pending.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by this attack on a human rights organisation, which contravenes the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 12.2 which provides that “[t]he State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities of Bangladesh urging them to:
i. guarantee HRCBM members’ physical and psychological integrity;
ii. ensure an immediate investigation into the circumstances of these events, identify those responsible, bring them before a civil, competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
iii. put an end to any act of violence against human rights defenders and human rights organisations;
iv. ensure the implementation of the provisions on the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular Article 1 which states, “Every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level”, as well as its Article 12.2 mentioned above;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international instruments ratified by Bangladesh.
Addresses :
- Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Office of the Prime Minister, Gona Bhaban, Sher-e Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fax: + 880 2 811 3244/ 3243/ 1015 / 1490, Email:pm@pmobd.org or psecretary@pmobd.org
- Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat, Building 4, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Ambassadeur, Ali, Toufiq, Rue de Lausanne 65, CH-1202, Genève, Suisse, e-mail : mission.bangladesh@ties.itu.int, mission.bangladesh@bluewin.ch fax: +4122 738 46 16
- Please also write to the embassies of Bangladesh in your respective country.
Paris - Geneva, April 30, 2004
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : + 41 22 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch