At a glance

While the country continues to host Rohingya refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, Bangladeshi authorities have been pressing to begin repatriations. Conditions in the camps are rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, the commission of human rights abuses by security forces, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture, remains pervasive throughout the country, in absolute impunity. Authorities regularly crack down on human rights defenders and journalists who speak out against these violations. Within the framework of its first review by the Committee against Torture in 2019, Bangladesh denied the allegations. In 2019, network member Odhikar and the OMCT published a report entitled Cycle of Fear on impunity for torture in Bangladesh. At the same time, both organisations participated in the submission of a civil society joint alternative report on Bangladesh to the Committee against Torture.