The UN human rights office says both the RAB and BGB forces have “records of serious human rights violations.” File | Photo credit: AP
Bangladesh’s new authorities on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) launched an investigation into the enforced disappearances of hundreds of people by security forces during the rule of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government said.
This includes the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) paramilitary force, which has been accused of numerous human rights abuses, and was sanctioned by the United States for its role in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
Human Rights Watch said last year that security forces had “enforced the disappearance of more than 600 people” since Ms. Hasina came to power in 2009 and about 100 people were still missing.
Many of those detained were members of Ms. Hasina’s rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.
Ms Hasina’s government has consistently denied the allegations and claimed that some of the missing drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe.
Ms Hasina flew to India by helicopter on August 5 after being forced to step down by weeks of student-led protests, ending her 15 years of harsh rule.
‘Disappearances and torture’
A government order issued late Tuesday night said the five-member committee headed by retired High Court judge Moinul Islam Chowdhury will also investigate other paramilitary police units, including the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
The UN human rights office says both the RAB and BGB forces “have a record of serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment.”
The commission, ordered to begin work by the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has 45 working days to submit its report.
Sanjida Islam Tuli, coordinator of a group that campaigned for the release of those detained during Hasina’s rule, welcomed the commission.
“The most important thing is that the report should be published in full and no information should be hidden,” Ms Tully said. AFPJoe Meyer leads a group called Daak, which means “Calling of the Mothers.”
Ms. Tuli, who met Mr. Yunus earlier this month along with people looking for missing relatives to demand action, said she wanted the commission to listen to every family without discrimination.
He said he wanted the missing people to return and those responsible to be brought to justice.
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks before Ms Hasina stepped down, according to a preliminary report by a UN human rights team, which suggests the number is “likely an underestimate”.
The day after his escape, families gathered outside the Military Intelligence Force building in Dhaka to anxiously wait for their relatives.
But only a few people have been confirmed released so far.