Topic summary
Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh
- Parties and Alliances
- Ministries
- Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013
- Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009
- Cyber Security Act, 2023
- Fifteenth constitutional amendment
- International Crimes Tribunal
- 2013 Shahbag protests
- Enforced disappearances (Aynaghar)
- Bangladesh Rifles revolt
- Abolition of Caretaker Government
- 2015 Rohingya crisis
- 2013 Bangladesh violence
- Padma Bridge graft scandal
- Young Bangla
- Attacks by Islamic extremists
- July 2016 Dhaka attack
- Bangladesh Bank robbery
- 2021 anti-Hindu violence
- Persecution of journalists
- 2015 political crisis
- Suppressed freedom of expression
- Indo-Bangla land boundary agreement, 2015
- COVID-19 pandemic
- 2024 State visit to China
- Vision 2021
- Delta Plan
- Jamuna Bridge
- Forces Goal 2030
- Digital Bangladesh
- Padma Bridge
- Dhaka–Jessore line
- Karnaphuli Tunnel
- Rampal Power Station
- Ganges Barrage Project
- Port of Payra
- Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant
- Purbachal New Town
- Ashrayan-2
- Bangladesh Satellite-1
- Metro Rail
- Matarbari Port
- Dhaka Elevated Expressway
- Chittagong Elevated Expressway
Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh refer to extrajudicial executions carried out by law enforcement agencies without due legal process and to abduction cases in which the government directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. From 2009 to 2023, at least 2,699 people were victims of extrajudicial killings in the 160-million-strong Bangladesh. During the period, 677 people were forcibly disappeared, and 1,048 people died in custody. From 2004 to 2006, at least 991 people were killed extrajudicially by "death squad" the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The practice of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances primarily involves law enforcement agencies such as the RAB and the Detective Branch (DB) of the police.
These practices began during the administration of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and continued through subsequent regimes, including those of General Ershad and the government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. During its tenure from 2009 to 2024, the Awami League government has been particularly noted for using such tactics to control dissent, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Nations and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, repeatedly appeal to the government to stop these human rights violations, but to no avail. In 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on the RAB and its seven high officials. Since the imposition of the US sanctions, the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has begun decreasing.
In 2016, the families of the victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh founded a platform Mayer Daak to press their demand to know the whereabouts of their loved ones who disappeared under mysterious situation. On 14 August 2022, Netra News, which was then blocked in Bangladesh, published a whistleblower report alleging that Bangladesh officials were holding and torturing victims of enforced disappearances at Aynaghar, a secret detention facility.
After the downfall of the Awami league government in a mass uprising on 5 August 2024, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus formed a five-member inquiry commission on 27 August 2024, to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Headed by a retired high court judge, the commission was tasked with investigating the activities of the police, the RAB, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Special Branch (SB), the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the military's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).
On 29 August 2024, the interim government also signed the instrument of accession to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, aiming at preventing enforced disappearances as a state party.