HRW, rights groups call on govt to strengthen human rights

Several international rights organisations have urged the new government of Bangladesh to prioritise the protection of human rights following the recent national elections.

In a letter published on Monday, nine rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, called on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and his party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to take urgent steps to strengthen rights protections and ensure accountability.

According to the groups, Rahman assumed office after a landslide victory in the February 2026 election, which was conducted under an interim administration following the end of the 15-year rule of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Her government was toppled by mass protests in 2024.

While the widespread abuses such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings reported during Hasina’s rule have ended, the groups said the interim government had continued to arbitrarily detain political opponents and failed to prevent mob violence against journalists, religious minorities and cultural institutions.

Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said Rahman has received a strong public mandate for change. She noted that many Bangladeshis had risked their lives during the protests to end what she described as an autocratic government.

She said meaningful reforms would be needed to ensure independent institutions can deliver accountability and uphold the rule of law, while protecting fundamental freedoms such as freedom of religion and expression.

The rights groups urged the government to prioritise several key issues, including ending arbitrary detention, ensuring accountability for past human rights violations, abolishing the Rapid Action Battalion, and protecting ethnic and religious minorities.

They also called on the government to safeguard the rights of more than one million Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh and to establish a strong and independent National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh.

The organisations further recommended policy reforms and legislative measures to strengthen rights protections.

During the election campaign, the BNP pledged to safeguard fundamental rights, including economic rights, by increasing investment in health, education, environmental protection and social security, the letter noted.