UN Human Rights Office report points out human rights violation under both Hasina and interim government

Men run past a shopping center which was set on fire by protesters during a rally against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government demanding justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A report by the UN Human Rights Office has held the deposed Awami League government of Bangladesh carried out largescale repression that led to human rights violations and abuses during July-August 2024 in Bangladesh. The report prepared by a fact finding team also observed that violence against minority Hindus and indigenous communities of Bangladesh took place after the fall of the Hasina government when the interim government was in charge. The interim government of Prof. Mohammad Yunus has welcomed the report and termed it a “thorough independent investigation”.

“Based on direct testimony from senior officials involved and other inside sources, the OHCHR was able to establish that the integrated and systematic effort using the entire range of police, paramilitary, military and intelligence actors, as well as violent elements linked to the Awami League, to commit serious violations and abuses occurred with the full knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership,” the report has stated.

The report also pointed out that violence against minority Hindu community and the indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) took place soon after the fall of the Hasina government. “Violent mobs engaged in serious acts of revenge violence, including killings, targeting police and Awami League officials, especially early August onwards. Some Hindus, Ahmadiya Muslims and indigenous people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts were also subjected to human rights abuses, including the burning of homes, and attacks on places of worship, “ the report noted.

The Yunus government in Dhaka that welcomed the report, however, pointed out that the attacks by mobs against the Hindu community and the Ahmadiya Muslims resulted from “intersecting motives”. “Different and often intersecting motives drove these attacks, ranging from religious and ethnic discrimination to perceived opportunities for revenge against Awami League supporters among minorities, local communal disputes, including about land and interpersonal issues.”

Human rights activist and Director of Rights and Risks Analysis Group Suhas Chakma has criticised the UN report for saying “While accountability for human rights violations by Sheikh Hasina’s regime must be established, the UN Inquiry Report has failed because of the restrictions imposed by the interim government headed by Dr. Mohammad Yunus to investigate human rights violations only from 5 to 15 August 2024.”