Bangladesh's Human Rights Commission faces suspension calls amid forced resignations

The Rights and Risk Analysis Group (RRAG) today sought interventions of the Global Alliance of the National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to take immediate measures to suspend the membership of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh following the dissolution of the Commission through forced resignation of all members on 07 November 2024.

On 5th November 2024, the NHRC of Bangladesh released its monthly report for October 2024 and the report based on the facts highlighted a rise in crimes such as mob beatings, rapes, and other offences as well as political harassment, assaults on political leaders, and other violent acts. 

All members of Bangladesh's NHRC including Chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed and five other members i.e. Md Salim Reza, Aminul Islam, Kongjari Chowdhury, Biswajit Chanda, and Tania Haque submitted their resignation letters to the President of Bangladesh. 

“Reporting facts has become an offence for the members of the NHRC of Bangladesh and the Interim Government of Bangladesh created an absolutely untenable situation wherein all members of the NHRC were forced to resign. This also means that no independent members to the Commission can be appointed in the future. This action of the Interim Government of Bangladesh is unprecedented and akin to the dissolution of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.”- stated Suhas  Chakma, Director of the RRAG.

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“The absolute absence of any possibility to appoint any independent members of the NHRC of Bangladesh can also be assessed from the fact that on 10 August 2024, a mob surrounded the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and five other senior judges of the Supreme Court had to resign. 

Furthermore, on 16 October 2024, 12 judges of the High Court (HC) were removed from discharging judicial functions after several hundred students under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement besieged the HC premises seeking their removal. If the judges are not safe under the Interim Government of Bangladesh, there cannot be any safety for the members of the NHRC of Bangladesh.” - also stated Chakma.  

The forced resignation of the members of the NHRC of Bangladesh means that victims of human rights violations including women, children, indigenous peoples and religious minorities have been left to the mercy of the ruling mob without any institutional protection.

The RRAG urged the GANHRI to take firm action to address this extraordinary situation and suspend the membership of the NHRC of Bangladesh like the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in July 2022 and Myanmar Human Rights Commission, the Niger Human Rights Commission and the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation in July 2023.