Bangladesh’s civil society rose to challenge repression, but ongoing challenges persist.

We would like to see the party match its words with actions

It is unacceptable that prisoners are being denied visitations from their families for over two weeks.

There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Bangladesh last year, according to the "2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bangladesh"

Calls for independent, transparent investigations into cases of alleged enforced disappearances and ratification of the much-discussed convention on disappearances got louder at this UPR.

Government should promptly start working on UPR recommendations

Several human rights concerns including shrinking space for dissent, extrajudicial killings, and attacks on minority groups have been highlighted.

Odhikar has been diligently documenting all kinds of violations of human rights by both state agencies and non-state actors since 1994.

Government must protect rights workers from intimidation and legal persecution

A major weakness of the law is its inconsistency with the other existing laws.

Pakistan is the metaphor of everything Bangladesh doesn't want to be.

Authorities must respect people’s right to protest, prevent police excesses

As citizens, we have been largely deprived of many rights, including our right to exercise franchise. Not only that, our politics is now under massive strain as a result of the attempts of the political parties to uproot their respective rival parties over the years.

If we want to stop being lectured by international bodies, then we as a people, and much more so our government, must listen to our own critical voices.

Government must allow impartial investigation into rights abuse allegations

The European Union yesterday (May 20, 2022) stressed that a vibrant civil society is an important component of democracy, raised concerns on human rights situation in Bangladesh – in particular reports of alleged violation of rights – and emphasised the need to ensure accountability for such violations.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam today said the government will ask for explanation from the US side on the recently published human rights report, noting that there are fundamental flaws in it.

The government today criticised the US report on Bangladesh's human rights practices that contained some "misinformation" collected primarily from the "anti-government propaganda machines".