Executive Summary

The objective of the ‘Annual Human Rights Bulletin’ was not just to document the incidents of human rights violations but to raise awareness about human rights violations, including alerting the state agencies about the necessity to protect and defend human rights. Human Rights Support Society has published this bulletin based on reports of incidents of human rights violations and atrocities received through our district representatives as well as the news reports of twelve prominent national dailies. According to the annual statistics of HRSS from January to December 2017, the present human rights condition in Bangladesh has deteriorated being marked by absence of social equality, democracy and the growth of a gradually suppressive political class. The rights to freedom of expression are constantly violated while human rights activists and journalist are facing systematic oppression by the state actor. The application of draconian laws against journalists, human rights activists, online activists, and bloggers has become a common phenomenon. Suppression of dissenting voices has become a regular practice due to a culture of impunity, lack of accountability and destructive justice delivery mechanisms. Restrictions on the political parties and civil societies, impunity to the security forces, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, violence against women, arbitrary arrest and assault on opposition political leaders and activists, intimidation and extortion reveal a very glooming picture of the overall human rights situation in Bangladesh.

Based on the sources of HRSS, at least 212 persons were killed extra-judicially in 2017. Out of them, 155 people were killed in the name of ‘crossfire/gunfights’, 20 were tortured to death, 14 were shot to death and 23 died in custody. The deaths occurred during raids, arrests as well as during the operations conducted by the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs). The government regretfully describes these deaths as "crossfire/gunfights/encounter killings". Occurrences of Summary enforced disappearances also continued during the year 2017. Unfortunately, most of the cases of enforced disappearances involve the security forces such as RAB, DB, and Police. According to HRSS monitoring, a total 62 persons have been disappeared by the law enforcement agencies in different incidents.

Moreover, the HRSS bulletin finds that a total of 832, females have been raped. Of them, 464 were identified as adults and alarmingly 368 were children under the age of 16. A total of 351 women were killed in family feuds (including, domestic violence) while 145 women were killed due to dowry-related violence.It has also been reported that a total of 495 were abducted by non-state actors in different areas of the country, among them 304 were male, 113 were female, 78 were children, and as many as 105 were killed after the abduction. At least 71 people were killed in political violence and around 65 people were killed through lynching.

HRSS noticed that through 2017, about 165 violent incidents were committed against children following which 93 lost their life and 178 were critically injured. As a result of violent attacks, a total of 766 unarmed civilian suffered, of them, 528 were killed, and 511 seriously injured and roughly 77 were hit by bullets. HRSS also estimated a total of 39 incidents of attacks on minority communities throughout the country. Due to the Government’s submissive foreign policy with India and Myanmar, the number of unexpected incidents significantly increased in the border area. Bangladeshi citizens have been the victims of suspected killings, subjected to torture, and other forms of inhumane and degrading treatments. A total of nearly 80 incidents has been reported resulting in loss of lives of as many as 31 Bangladeshi citizens with 38 injured, and nearly 81 arrested by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Police (BGP).This shocking condition of human rights in Bangladesh motivates HRSS to work hard to raise awareness both home and abroad. For the most part that this bulletin will help the people, civil society as well as an international community by providing them with a concrete and evidential exposure to the current dreadful and degrading human rights situation of Bangladesh. 􀂄