Human rights in Bangladesh

Reforms were proposed in 2017 and included strengthening parliamentary supremacy, judicial independence, the separation of powers, repealing laws which restrain freedom of the press and disbanding security agencies which violate civil liberties.{{cite news |author=Rounaq Jahan |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-236719 |title=The Parliament of Bangladesh: Challenges and way forward |newspaper=The Daily Star |type=Opinion |access-date=11 July 2017}}{{cite news |author=M Rafiqul Islam |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/independence-of-the-judiciary-the-masdar-case-14760 |title=Independence of the judiciary- the Masdar case |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=11 July 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/05/bangladesh-dissenting-voices-trapped-between-fear-and-repression/ |title=Bangladesh: Dissenting voices trapped between fear and repression |publisher=Amnesty International |date=2 May 2017 |access-date=11 July 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/19/after-narayanganj-verdict-bangladesh-should-disband-rab |title=After Narayanganj verdict, Bangladesh should disband RAB |date=19 January 2017 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=11 July 2017}}

Even though Bangladesh has Islam as its state religion and has constitutional references to Hindus, Christians and Buddhists; the political system is modeled as a secular democracy. Governments have generally respected freedom of religion,{{Cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/171752.pdf |title=Technical Difficulties |website=2009-2017.state.gov}} a cornerstone of the Bangladeshi constitution. However, the police have been slow in responding to and investigating attacks against minorities, opposition activists & supporters and purportedly suppress protests against the government. According to Human Right Watch, around five hundred people have been disappeared since last ten years. In southeastern Bangladesh, the Chittagong Hill Tracts remains a militarized region due to a historical insurgency. Tribal people in Bangladesh have demanded constitutional recognition.{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-129498 |title=Indigenous people demand constitutional recognition |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=10 March 2010 |access-date=11 July 2017}}

According to Dr. Mizanur Rahman, the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, 70% of allegations of human rights violations are against law enforcement agencies (2015).{{cite web |url=https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/bangladeshs-crisis-civil-liberties-and-human-rights |title=Bangladesh's crisis of civil liberties and human rights |publisher=D+C Development + Cooperation |access-date=11 July 2017}} Torture and enforced disappearances are rampantly employed by Bangladeshi security forces. In recent years, free speech and media freedom have been repressed by the government through laws regulating newspapers, TV channels and the internet. Elected MPs in parliament lack voting freedoms. The future of elections is a concern among the population, with opposition parties alleging free and fair elections are not possible under the incumbent government. Local government elections in 2015 were marred by widespread allegations of vote rigging.{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/bangladesh-local-elections-marred-by-vote-rigging-allegations-1430289326 |title=Bangladesh Local Elections Marred by Vote-Rigging Allegations |first=Syed Zain |last=Al-Mahmood |date=29 April 2015 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}} Bangladesh continues to make strides in its pursuit of labor rights, although the journey is still ongoing. The presence of active trade unions, a decline in the number of child laborers, and the establishment of labor courts and foundations exemplify the remarkable progress Bangladesh has made in safeguarding labor rights.{{Cite web |last=Elahi |first=Shafiqul |title=Bangladesh making steady progress in ensuring labor rights |url=https://www.southasiamonitor.org/spotlight/bangladesh-making-steady-progress-ensuring-labor-rights |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=South Asia Monitor |language=en}}

Capital punishment remains legal in Bangladesh. Worker's rights are effected by a ban on trade unions in special economic zones. The government has often targeted trade union leaders with persecution.{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/15/bangladesh-stop-persecuting-unions-garment-workers |title=Bangladesh: Stop Persecuting Unions, Garment Workers |date=15 February 2017 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=1 July 2017}} The right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice and practise their own religion, and to use their own language in both private and publics spheres (Article 2 (1)).{{Cite news |date=23 November 2016 |title=Minority rights |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/minority-rights-1319188 |access-date=2 May 2023 |work=The Daily Star |language=en}}

{{Main|Persecution of indigenous peoples in Bangladesh}}

Non-Bengali minorities are often culturally and politically discriminated in the country. Article 23A of the constitution goes on to describe minorities as "tribes" and "minor races",{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=41506 |title=23A. The culture of tribes, minor races, ethnic sects and communities |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} notably the Chakmas, Biharis, Garos, Santhals, Marmas, Manipuris, Tripuris, Tanchangyas, Bawms. Article 6 of the constitution, which proclaims "the people of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangalees as a nation",{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24554 |title=6. Citizenship |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} was criticized for discrimination against the country's significant non-Bengali population. Chakma politician Manabendra Narayan Larma addressed it during proceedings of the constituent assembly of Bangladesh in 1972, famously proclaimed that "Under no definition or logic can a Chakma be a Bengali or a Bengali be a Chakma....As citizens of Bangladesh, we are all Bangladeshis, but we also have a separate ethnic identity, which unfortunately the Awami League leaders do not want to understand".{{cite book |last1=Ahmed |first1=Rahnuma |editor-last1=Guhathakurta |editor-first1=Meghna |editor-last2=van Schendel |editor-first2=Willem |chapter=The Bengali Sense of Victimhood |title=The Bangladesh Reader: History, Culture, Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haGORCJRlOUC&pg=PA358 |year=2013 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5318-8 |page=358}}{{cite book |author1=S. L. Sharma |author2=T. K. Oommen |title=Nation and National Identity in South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=feqXs6hvEesC&pg=PA192 |year=2000 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1924-4 |page=192}}{{cite news |author=Hana Shams Ahmed |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-153616 |title=Our constitution |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=11 July 2017}}

{{Main|Biharis in Bangladesh|Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh|Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh}}

The substantial Bihari population also complain of discrimination. In 2008, the Dhaka High Court granted citizenship to the stateless Stranded Pakistani community.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/bangladesh-high-court-grants-citizenship-to-stateless-bihari-refugees/ |title=Bangladesh: High Court Grants Citizenship to Stateless Bihari Refugees - Global Legal Monitor |date=2 June 2008 |website=}}

Bangladesh has been criticized for the poor living conditions in which over Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are kept in the country's southeast. There was international outcry after the army and government planned to relocate refugee camps to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/02/bangladesh-government-plan-move-rohingya-remote-island-human-catastrophe |title=Plan to move Rohingya to remote island prompts fears of human catastrophe |first1=Shaikh Azizur |last1=Rahman |date=2 February 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian}} There were an estimated 22,000 registered refugees and over 100,000 unregistered refugees until 2016. Following the 2016-present Rakhine State crackdown, 1.5 million refugees entered Bangladesh from Myanmar.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burma-rohingya-muslim-refugees-bangladesh-aung-san-suu-kyi-a7554756.html |title=Bangladesh wants to move Muslim refugees to an island to stop them 'mingling' with citizens |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |date=31 January 2017}}

Bangladesh has not signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

{{Main|Freedom of religion in Bangladesh}}{{See also|1971 Bangladesh genocide|Malaun }}

{{Violence against Hindus in East Pakistan and Bangladesh}}

List of massacres targeted at religious minorities, mainly by radical Islamists:

• 1946 Noakhali riots
• 1971 Bangladesh genocide of Hindus and Buddhist
• 1989 Bangladesh pogroms
• 1990 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence
• 1992 Bangladesh violence
• 2012 Chirirbandar violence
• 2012 Fatehpur violence
• 2012 Hathazari violence
• 2012 Ramu violence
• 2013 Bangladesh Anti-Hindu violence
• 2014 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence
• 2016 Nasirnagar Violence
• 2021 Bangladesh Communal Violence
• Persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh
• Persecution of Buddhists in Bangladesh
• Persecution of Christians in Bangladesh
• Persecution of atheists and secularists in Bangladesh

{{Further|Persecution of Ahmadis in Bangladesh}}

Different denominational minority Muslim groups are often targeted by the dominant Sunnis for sectarian violence, such as

Ahmadiyya and Shia community of the country. In 2004, the Government of Bangladesh banned all religious texts of the Ahmadiyya community.{{Cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/01/09/d4010901011.htm |title=Ahmadiyya books banned |work=The Daily Star|access-date=9 August 2019 |archive-date=9 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809194442/http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/01/09/d4010901011.htm |url-status=dead }} In 2015, a Shi'ite Ashura gathering was bombed.{{cite journal |last=Husain |first=S.A. |year=2016 |title=Intolerant Bangladesh? How and why |journal=Society and Culture in South Asia |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=286-291 |doi=10.1177/2393861716641578}}

The constitution's proclamation of a People's republic and socialism in its preamble{{cite web|url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?id=367 |title=Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} and Article 10{{cite web|url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24558 |title=10. Socialism and freedom from exploitation |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} are at odds with Bangladesh's current free market economy system, entrepreneurial class, diverse corporate sector and owners of private property. Six general elections were won by pro-market political parties, while four elections were won by left-wing parties.

Bangladesh ranked 128th out of 178 countries in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom.{{cite web |author=View Chart of Scores over Time |url=http://www.heritage.org/index/country/bangladesh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115142235/http://www.heritage.org/index/country/Bangladesh |url-status=unfit |archive-date=January 15, 2009 |title=Bangladesh Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption |publisher=Heritage.org |date=13 January 2017 |access-date=11 July 2017}}

In spite of Article 38 calling for freedom of association, trade union leaders from the textile industry often face arbitrary arrests and politically motivated lawsuits. Forming trade unions is banned in export processing zones (EPZs), but the government has pledged to remove the ban.{{cite news |url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/regulations/2017/04/24/govt-allow-trade-union-epz/ |title=Govt to now allow trade unions in EPZ factories |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune}}

{{See also|Child labor in Bangladesh}}

Forced labor is prohibited under Article 34.{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24582 |title=34. Prohibition of forced labour |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} Child labour is common in the country, with 4.7 million children aged from 5 to 14 years old in the work force.{{cite web |url=https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour.pdf |title=Child labour in Bangladesh |date=June 2010 |website=UNICEF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122204427/https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour.pdf |access-date=24 December 2015 |archive-date=22 November 2011}} 93% of child labourers are employed in the informal sector such as small factories and workshops, on the street, in home-based businesses and domestic employment.{{cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/children_4863.htm |title=Bangladesh - Child Labour |website=UNICEF |access-date=24 December 2015 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102022556/http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/children_4863.htm |url-status=dead}} In 2006, Bangladesh passed a Labor Law setting the minimum legal age for employment as 14.{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/12/07/504681046/study-child-laborers-in-bangladesh-are-working-64-hours-a-week |title=Study: Child Laborers In Bangladesh Are Working 64 Hours A Week |last=Beaubien |first=Jason |date=7 December 2016 |work=NPR: Goats And Soda}}

{{See also|Digital Security Act|Censorship in Bangladesh}}

Free speech is enshrined under Article 39.{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24587 |title=39. Freedom of thought and conscience, and of speech |website=}} During the 1990s and first decade and a half of the 21st century, the Bangladeshi media enjoyed more freedom than at any other time in history. However, since the 2014 election in which the incumbent Awami League won a boycotted election, the freedom of the press has dramatically declined. The ruling party has targeted the country's two leading newspapers The Daily Star and Prothom Alo with numerous lawsuits and has encouraged businesses to stop advertising in them. Pro-opposition journalists Mahmudur Rahman and Shafik Rehman were detained for prolonged periods. Nurul Kabir, editor of the New Age, has faced threats to his life.{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-128505 |title=Editors worried at threats to Nurul Kabir |date=3 March 2010 |newspaper=The Daily Star}} Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star, has faced 83 lawsuits since 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/18/it-all-depends-on-how-i-behave-press-freedom-under-threat-in-bangladesh |title=Bangladeshi editor who faced 83 lawsuits says press freedom under threat |first=Michael |last=Safi |date=18 May 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian}} Reporters without Borders ranked Bangladesh at 146th out of 180 countries in its index of press freedom.{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/media-never-under-so-much-threat-1397038 |title=Press Freedom: Bangladesh slips two notches |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=27 April 2017}}

According to Amnesty International, independent media outlets and journalists have come under severe pressure by the government. Several journalists faced arbitrary criminal charges, often for publishing criticism of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her family or the Awami League Government. Journalists reported increased threats from governmental officials or security agencies. The government continued to use a range of repressive laws to restrict the right to freedom of expression extensively. It increasingly used the Information and Communications Technology Act which arbitrarily restricted online expression. The human rights organization Odhikar reported increased arrests under the Act. Journalists, activists, and others were targeted. Dilip Roy, a student activist, was detained for criticizing the Prime Minister on Facebook, but later released on bail. Parliament adopted the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act which significantly increased government control over the work of NGOs and threatened them with deregistration for making "inimical" or "derogatory" remarks against the Constitution or constitutional bodies. Several other bills that threatened freedom of expression were proposed in parliament, including the Digital Security Act and the Liberation War Denial Crimes Act.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/bangladesh/report-bangladesh/ |title=Bangladesh 2016/2017 |publisher=Amnesty International}}

The government has also been slow to investigate attacks on secularists in Bangladesh.

On 20 June 2020, a 15-year-old child was arrested by Bangladeshi authority for criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed in a Facebook post. The child was arrested under Digital Security Act. He was sent to a juvenile detention center. Human Rights Watch urged the Bangladeshi government to order their police force not to arrest people for criticizing the government and release all children held in juvenile detention facilities and prisons for petty crimes.{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/26/bangladesh-arrests-teenage-child-criticizing-prime-minister |title=Bangladesh Arrests Teenage Child for Criticizing Prime Minister |access-date=25 June 2020 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=25 June 2020}}

According to Human Rights Watch, Bangladeshi authorities are perpetually detaining journalist, activist and government's critics under misuse of Digital Security Act. People are being detained for posting social media comments against the ruling party. HRW urged the authority to release detainees who were held under DSA for criticizing the government.{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/01/bangladesh-repeal-abusive-law-used-crackdown-critics |title=Bangladesh: Repeal Abusive Law Used in Crackdown on Critics |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=July 2020}}

On February 13, 2025, noted poet, essayist, academic, literary editor and cultural activist Sohel Hasan Galib was arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiments on social media and in his poetry book.{{Cite news |date=15 February 2025 |title=Poet Sohel Hasan Galib sent to jail for 'hurting religious sentiment' |url=https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/poet-sohel-hasan-galib-sent-jail-charge-hurting-religious-sentiment-1069306 |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=The Business Standard |language=en}} Pen Bangladesh condemned the arrest of the poet, saying that "opinions and ideas can only be countered by opinions and ideas, and not by stifling thought."{{Cite news |title=PEN Bangladesh condemns arrest of poet Sohel Hasan Galib |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/374317/pen-bangladesh-condemns-arrest-of-poet-sohel-hasan |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=Dhaka Tribune |language=en}}

Article 11 proclaims that "the Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed".{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24559 |title=11. Democracy and human rights |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2017}} In 2017, the police asked the prime minister to scrap the anti-torture law.{{cite news |url=http://www.newagebd.net/article/7666/police-want-revocation-of-anti-torture-law |title=Police want revocation of anti-torture law |newspaper=New Age|date=1 October 2016 |access-date=11 July 2017}}

Although there is general freedom of assembly{{cite web|url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24585|title=37. Freedom of assembly|website=}} in Bangladesh, the political opposition is often restricted from holding public meetings and rallies by the government.

On 3 January 2019, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation on attack on members of the opposition party on and before Bangladesh elections.{{Cite news |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh-national-election-2018/news/ganosamhati-andolon-boycott-polls-1680829|title=Ganosamhati Andolon boycotts polls|date=December 30, 2018|work=The Daily Star}}

{{Main|Democracy in Bangladesh}}

{{Further|Politics of Bangladesh}}

{{Main|Elections in Bangladesh}}

In 2011, the Awami League-led parliament abolished the caretaker government of Bangladesh, which was intended to act as a neutral guarantor during general elections. The opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party maintains that free and fair elections are not possible under the incumbent Awami League government, particularly after the League amended the constitution to have a sitting parliament while elections take place, in contradiction of Westminster norms.{{cite news |url=http://www.theindependentbd.com/arcprint/details/96355/2017-05-26 |title=BNP welcomes EC roadmap but stresses poll-time neutral govt |newspaper=The Independent |location=Dhaka}}

In 2015, local government elections were marred by allegations of vote rigging and intimidation of voters and the media. Opposition parties have demanded a neutral interim government during the election period. In response, the government has proposed to restrict its political activities while organizing and holding elections.{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/politics/quest-acceptable-polls-time-goverment-1344961 |title=In quest of an acceptable polls-time government |newspaper=The Daily Star|date=14 January 2017 |type=Op-ed}}

File:Sangshad Assembly Hall.jpgs due to Article 70]]

{{Main|Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh}}

Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh is described as one of the most significant constraints on Bangladesh's democracy. The article restricts free votes in parliament. This means MPs have no voting freedom. According to the article, MPs will lose their seats if they vote against their party. Critics have argued the article tramples free speech in parliament itself.{{cite news|url=http://archive.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/feb/20/article-70-contradiction-spirit-constitution|title=Article 70: Contradiction with the spirit of the constitution|newspaper=Dhaka Tribune|access-date=4 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626135948/http://archive.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/feb/20/article-70-contradiction-spirit-constitution|archive-date=26 June 2017|url-status=dead}} As a result, parliament has been termed a rubber stamp and a lame duck.

Part IXA of the constitution concerns a state of emergency. Emergency powers were increased in the second amendment.{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/politics/constitution-day-the-cost-ignoring-the-constitution-1309039 |title=The cost of ignoring the Constitution |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=4 November 2016 |type=Op-ed}} Three emergency periods have been declared in Bangladesh's history, including in 1973, 1990 and 2007. Article 141 (B) and Article 141 (C) allows for the suspension of fundamental rights during an emergency period.{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24704 |title=141B. Suspension of provisions of certain articles during emergencies |website=}}{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24705 |title=141C. Suspension of enforcement of fundamental rights during emergencies |website=}} The articles have been strongly criticized. In January 2007, when the 2006-2008 Bangladeshi political crisis saw a declaration of emergency rule, the New Age stated in an editorial "...by declaring a state of emergency to undo his mistakes, it is once again the people that the president is hurting by suspending their fundamental democratic rights. The citizens are not at fault for the existing political situation and therefore should not be punished for the failures of the caretaker government and the political parties. The president, therefore, should immediately restore the fundamental rights of the citizens."{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6258331.stm |title=Press concern at Bangladesh emergency |work=BBC News}}

{{Main|Laws in Bangladesh}}

{{Main|Crossfire (Bangladesh)|Forced disappearance in Bangladesh}}

{{See also|United States sanctions on Bangladesh}}

File:Rapid Action Battalion (04).jpg]]

Article 32 of the Constitution proclaims "no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty save in accordance with law".{{cite web |url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_detail.php?id=367§ions_id=24580 |title=32. Protection of right to life and personal liberty |publisher= |access-date=11 July 2021}} In reality, Bangladesh has a number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances each year. The Rapid Action Battalion is accused of being the leading perpetrator of such human rights abuses, followed by the Bangladesh Police, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and National Security Intelligence.

{{main|Capital punishment in Bangladesh}}

Capital punishment remains legal in Bangladesh.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries |title=Death Penalty |publisher=Amnesty International |date=15 March 2014 |access-date=22 November 2015 |archive-date=9 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209075925/http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries |url-status=dead}} There were four executions in the country in 2022, and four in 2021.{{cite web |title=Bangladesh |url=https://deathpenaltyworldwide.org/database/#/results/country?id=6 |work=Database: People's Republic of Bangladesh |publisher=Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide |access-date=22 November 2013}} It can theoretically be applied to anyone over the age of 16, but in practice is not applied to those under 18.

The death penalty may be used as a punishment for crimes such as murder, sedition, offences related to possession of or trafficking in drugs, offences related to trafficking in human beings, treason, espionage, military crimes, rape, hijacking planes, sabotage, or terrorism.{{cite web |url=http://www.handsoffcain.info/bancadati/schedastato.php?idstato=17000495 |title=Bangladesh |publisher=Hands Off Cain |access-date=22 November 2015}} It is carried out by hanging and firing squad; authorities usually use only hanging.

Bangladesh is not a state party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on abolishing the death penalty.

Bangladesh's former Law Minister Anisul Huq proposed a law on behalf of the government under which the highest form of punishment would be imposed on those accused of rape. The decision followed public outrage over the video of a woman circulated online showing a group of men sexually assaulting her. It was later found that the girl was also repeatedly gang raped by the same men.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/bangladesh-rape-protests-idUSKBN26V0AP |title=Bangladesh weighs death penalty for rapists as protests flare |access-date=21 June 2020 |work=Reuters}}

{{See also|Women in Bangladesh}}

{{update|section|date=August 2020}}

The United Nations country team in Bangladesh has identified "marital instability" as the key cause of poverty and "ultra and extreme" poverty among female-headed households. The Bangladesh Planning Commission has said that women are more susceptible to becoming poor after losing a male earning family member due to abandonment or divorce.{{cite web |url=http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/womensit/bd-w-sit.pdf |title=Women's Rights in Bangladesh |year=2002 |website=Online Women in Politics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216022655/http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/womensit/bd-w-sit.pdf |archive-date=16 December 2011 |access-date=22 December 2012}} Women in Bangladesh are especially vulnerable to a form of domestic violence known as acid throwing, in which concentrated acid is thrown onto an individual (usually at the face) with the aims of extreme disfiguration and social isolation. In Bangladesh, women are discriminately targeted: according to one study, from 1999 to 2009, 68% of acid attack survivors were women/girls.Avon Foundation for Women. Combating Acid Violence in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia: A Report by the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School, The Committee on International Human Rights of the New York City Bar Association, the Cornell Law School International Human Rights Clinic, and the Virtue Foundation. (2011): 1–64.

In 2010, a law against domestic violence was introduced, which defines causing "economic loss" as an act of domestic violence and recognises the right to live in the marital home. The law also empowers courts to provide temporary maintenance to survivors of domestic violence. In 2012, the Law Commission of Bangladesh, supported by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, completed nationwide research into reforms for Muslim, Hindu, and Christian personal laws. In May 2012, the cabinet approved a bill for optional registration of Hindu marriages. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is also considering reforms to civil court procedures—especially on issuance of summons that will improve family court efficiency.{{cite web |title=Will I Get My Dues ... Before I Die? |url=https://www.hrw.org/node/109683/section/3 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=17 September 2012 |access-date=22 December 2012 |last1=Kashyap |first1=Aruna}}

Bangladesh has a high rate of early marriages. The government had vowed to end marriage of children younger than 15 by 2021. But in February 2017, a law was passed that permits girls less than 18 years of age to marry under "special circumstances," such as "accidental" or "illegal pregnancy," with permission from their parents and court.{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/bangladesh |title=Bangladesh Events of 2017 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=14 December 2017}}

{{Main|LGBT rights in Bangladesh}}

In 2014, the Bangladeshi government officially recognized hijras as a third gender.{{cite web |url=https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/bangladeshs-third-gender/ |title=Bangladesh's Third Gender |first=Jonathan |last=Blaustein |website=Lens Blog |date=18 March 2015}}

The British Raj-era Penal Code remains in force in Bangladesh. Section 377 of the Code criminalizes homosexuality. In 2016, Terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the murder of Bangladesh's first LGBTQ magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan and his partner Tanay Majumdar.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/25/asia/bangladesh-u-s-embassy-worker-killed/index.html |title=Al Qaeda claims #Bangladesh LGBT murders |author1=Eliott C. McLaughlin |author2=Don Melvin |author3=Tiffany Ap |publisher=CNN}}

{{Main|Corruption in Bangladesh}}

In 2017, Bangladesh scored a 28 out of 100 (0 being highly corrupt and 100 being clean), in the "Corruption Perceptions Index" by Transparency International, and ranked the 143rd most corrupt out of 180 nations. In 2016, they scored 16, and in 2015 they scored a 25.{{Cite web |title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/corruption-perceptions-index-2017 |access-date=20 November 2020 |website= |language=en}}

In 2018, corruption can be found in hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies in the form of bribery. In 2018 alone, it is estimated that 10,688 TK has been treated through bribery. Over 66% of homes claimed to be victims of corruption in the service industries. Corruption is also found in law enforcement, where over 72% of homes claimed to be victims of corruption in regards to law enforcement. Those who fell victim to corruption found that the most commonly corrupt officials were in law enforcement and passport offices, needing bribes in order to have your claims processed. In addition to bribery, corruption also exists in the forms of lobbying, in the gas industry, in education, water supply, electricity industries, and in many other major industries. Bribery is an underlying theme, linking the problems together.{{Cite news |date=31 August 2018|title=Corruption highest in law enforcement|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news/city/corruption-in-bangladesh-law-enforcement-agencies-most-corrupt-tib-1626589|access-date=19 February 2021|work=The Daily Star|language=en}}

Slave labor is also quite common in Bangladesh, with over 1.5 million people being forced into labor, directly breaking the prohibition on forced labor. 85% of the slaves are male, and 15% are female, making Bangladesh rank 4th in terms of slave count in the world, only being topped by India, China and Pakistan. Most men work in labor industries like farming or construction,{{Cite news |date=10 August 2017 |title=Bangladesh 10th most slave served country |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/world/south-asia/bangladesh/infographics-bangladesh-10th-most-modern-slave-served-country-global-slavery-index-2016-big-data-1446466 |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=The Daily Star |language=en}} while many women and young girls are enslaved in brothels. Linking back in to bribery, brothel owners have been found to bribe the police to convince them that the children are at least 18, the legal age to work as a sex worker in Bangladesh. These women and girls make very little money, as the brothel owners keep most of the profits.{{Cite news |date=6 July 2019 |title=The living hell of young girls enslaved in Bangladesh's brothels |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/06/living-hell-of-bangladesh-brothels-sex-trafficking |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=The Guardian |language=en}} More than a quarter of sex workers in Bangladesh entered the field as a result of being sold or forced into bondage.{{cite book |last1=Islam |first1=Asadul |last2=Smyth |first2=Russell |editor1-last=Cunningham |editor1-first=Scott |editor2-last=Shah |editor2-first=Mahisha |year=2016 |chapter=Economics of Sex Work in Bangladesh |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=212–213 |isbn=978-0-19-991524-8}}

• Centre for Law and Mediation (Bangladesh)
• Persecution of Biharis in Bangladesh
• Prostitution in Bangladesh
• Crossfire (Bangladesh)
• Guest room (Bangladesh)
• HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh
• List of defamation of religion cases under section 57 in Bangladesh
• Persecution of Journalists under Bangladesh's Interim Government (2024–25)
• United States sanctions on Bangladesh

{{Reflist|35em}}

• Blood, Archer K. (2005). The cruel birth of Bangladesh: Memoirs of an American diplomat. Dhaka: University Press.
• Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. New Delhi: Akshaya Prakashan.
• Dastidar, S. G. (2008). Empire's last casualty: Indian subcontinent's vanishing Hindu and other minorities. Kolkata: Firma KLM.
• Kamra, A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms: Testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946–64.
• Taslima Nasrin (2014). Lajja. Gurgaon, Haryana, India : Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd, 2014.
• Rosser, Yvette Claire. (2004) Indoctrinating Minds: Politics of Education in Bangladesh, New Delhi: Rupa & Co. {{ISBN|8129104318}}.
• Mukherji, S. (2000). Subjects, citizens, and refugees: Tragedy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, 1947–1998. New Delhi: Indian Centre for the Study of Forced Migration.
• Sarkar, Bidyut (1993). Bangladesh 1992 : This is our home : Sample Document of the Plight of our Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Tribal Minorities in our Islamized Homeland : Pogroms 1987–1992. Bangladesh Minority Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, (and Tribal) Unity Council of North America.
• {{citeweb|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/world/alone-in-the-dark-the-nightmare-of-bangladeshs-secret-underground-prison-3237643|title=Alone in the dark: The nightmare of Bangladesh's secret underground prison|publisher=International New York Times}}

{{Wikiquote}}

Chancery Law Chronicles- First Bangladesh Online Case Law Database * [http://www.clcbd.org Chancery Law Chronicles - Online Database of Bangladesh Laws]

• [http://www.hrcbm.org/ Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities]
• [http://www.hrcbm.org/news/writ_HRCBM_Bangladesh_2006.html Litigation Against Government of Bangladesh for the Protection of Country's Minority communities who are deprived of their fundamental rights.]
• [http://www.hrcbm.org/CHT/Chittagong_Hilltract.htm The Genocide in Chittagong Hill Tract of Bangladesh.]
• [http://hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=bangla Human Rights Watch's Bangladesh index]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061119065402/http://ifex.org/en/content/view/full/143/ Censorship in Bangladesh] – IFEX
• [http://www.hrcbm.org Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM)]: Atrocities against Minorities in Bangladesh.
• [http://www.hrcbmdfw.org Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities of Dallas Fort-Worth (HRCBM-DFW)]: Atrocities against Minorities in Bangladesh.
• The AHRC's [https://web.archive.org/web/20090217194955/http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2005/1199/ report on 'brutal' torture of Rahman Shohel]
• [http://www.article2.org/mainfile.php/0504/245/ Article2's long list of alleged abuses of human rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702033701/http://www.article2.org/mainfile.php/0504/245/ |date=2015-07-02 }}
• [http://www.ect.org/news/2003-4-16_sydneygay.html ECT: Why Gay men flee Bangladesh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706001934/http://www.ect.org/news/2003-4-16_sydneygay.html |date=2019-07-06 }}
• [http://www.survival-international.org/files/related_material/38_6_71_jummabg.pdf Murder in the Hill tracts]
• [http://bangladesh.ahrchk.net/ Serious Bangladesh human rights issues in detail, including torture, extrajudicial killing, impunity and failed administration of justice. Important documents in Bangla]

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Category:Torture in Bangladesh