Bangladesh: Ensure justice, reparation for victims, and guarantees of non-recurrence of enforced disappearances

Joint Statement

26 May

A joint statement on the occasion of the International Week of the Disappeared 2026

26 MAY 2025

We, the undersigned organisations, urge the Government of Bangladesh to ensure truth, justice, reparation for victims and their families and guarantees of non-recurrence of enforced disappearances in observance of the International Week of the Disappeared.[1]

In Bangladesh, enforced disappearance was systematically used as a tool of state repression during the 15-and-a-half-year rule of the Awami League government. During this period, secret and unlawful detention facilities operated across the country. Opposition leaders, activists, dissenters, and individuals labeled as “militants” were arbitrarily detained in facilities such as the Joint Interrogation Centre of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and the Taskforce Interrogation Centre of the Rapid Action Battalion. Detainees were frequently subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Many were later charged under fabricated cases using laws such as the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, the Arms Act, 1878 and the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. These practices contributed to a broader system of repression targeting political opposition and critical voices.

On 5 August 2024, a mass, popular uprising led by students resulted in the fall of the Awami League government. Subsequently, the interim government formed a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, which documented over 1,600 cases. Of these, 251 individuals remain missing, while 1,282 resurfaced after periods of enforced disappearance and illegal detention. More than 60% of the victims were found to have known political affiliations. The Commission also documented several cases involving cross-border renditions to India.

A key cause of the persistence of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh has been a permissive political and institutional framework. Security-driven narratives helped normalise unlawful practices and effectively embed them within governance structures. These violations were closely linked to the widespread and systematic practice of torture, with victims subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse. A culture of impunity became deeply entrenched, with the criminal justice system manipulated to legitimise repression and shield perpetrators. Survivors faced intimidation and were reluctant to come forward.

Bangladesh acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) on 29 August 2024. Prior to this, no specific domestic law criminalised enforced disappearance. In response to its international obligations, the interim government promulgated the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance, 2025, and the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, 2025 to criminalise enforced disappearance and to strengthen the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) respectively.

However, following the 13th National Parliamentary Election, the newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government, despite securing a two-thirds majority, decided not to enact these ordinances into law, rendering them void. Despite assurances from the government regarding the enactment of stronger legislation, recently proposed draft laws on enforced disappearance and the NHRC would significantly weaken institutional independence, oversight, and effectiveness. Under these proposals, the NHRC would be unable to investigate serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, and would be limited to requesting reports from the government mirroring the limitations of the 2009 NHRC Act. This marks a regression from the 2025 ordinance, which granted the Commission authority to directly investigate security forces.

Both draft laws appear to be diluted versions of the 2025 ordinances and risk undermining accountability mechanisms. Failure to enact the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance, 2025 into law constitutes a grave injustice to victims and contradicts the spirit of the July mass uprising. It also contradicts a key provision of the ICPPED requiring states parties to enact domestic laws in line with the treaty. Further, both the 2025 ordinance and the new draft legislation include the death penalty as a sentencing option, and extending the death penalty under this legislation would conflict with Bangladesh’s obligations under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

To date, families of those who remain missing have not been provided with official disappearance certificates, preventing them from accessing bank accounts or managing the property of the victims. Many families continue to live in uncertainty, while many survivors who have returned face ongoing harassment through fabricated legal cases and prolonged court proceedings.

Although the interim government initiated steps toward justice, including investigations by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances and the International Crimes Tribunal, progress has significantly slowed since the installation of the elected government in February 2026. Victims and their families continue to endure profound psychological distress and uncertainty.

We consider the failure to enact the 2025 Ordinances and the proposal of weaker legislation to be serious setbacks that undermine victims’ rights and contradict the BNP’s commitments in the July National Charter 2025 to “ensure justice for all victims” of disappearances, killings, and torture. We reiterate that truth, justice, and reparation are essential to restoring the rule of law and preventing recurrence.

We call on the Government of Bangladesh to:

Enact comprehensive legislation criminalising enforced disappearance, following meaningful and inclusive public consultations, in line with the ICPPED, and exclude the death penalty as a sentencing option.
Ensure access to justice and comprehensive reparation, including full compensation, satisfaction, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support for victims and affected relatives as well as guarantees of non-repetition. Those reparation measures should be adopted with the participation of victims and civil society.
Provide legal recognition of the status of missing persons and protection to victims’ families, enabling families to access bank accounts and manage movable and immovable property, and official documentation.
Withdraw all fabricated cases against victims of enforced disappearance and release those wrongfully detained, including individuals convicted on the basis of coerced confessions or torture.
Conduct prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into all cases of enforced disappearance and prosecute those responsible with strict adherence to international fair trial standards and regardless of their institutional or political affiliation through appropriate judicial mechanisms, ensuring that no form of impunity is granted.
Enact comprehensive legislation to strengthen the independence and mandate of the NHRC, following meaningful and inclusive public consultations, including by enabling the NHRC to investigate allegations against state actors, including security forces.
Establish transparent diplomatic engagement with India to determine the whereabouts of any Bangladeshi nationals who may have been transferred or detained across borders following enforced disappearance.

[1] The International Week of the Disappeared is observed annually during the last week of May to commemorate victims of enforced disappearance and to call for accountability for perpetrators. The observance was first initiated in 1981 by FEDEFAM (Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees) and has since been marked globally by human rights organisations.

Signed by:

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network

ARTICLE 19

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

Capital Punishment Justice Project

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Fortify Rights

Human Rights Watch

International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)

Odhikar

Omega Research Foundation