HR violation increases in Bangladesh


New Delhi, January 17, 2007 : War-torn Sri Lanka and politically unstable Bangladesh suffered worsening human rights violations in 2006 while other parts of the subcontinent saw scant progress, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

In its annual report, the New York-based watchdog said Bangladesh's "already poor human rights record worsened, as security forces continued to commit numerous abuses, including extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, and custodial torture.""A culture of impunity, reinforced by legislation, which largely shields the security forces from legal challenge, and by government praise for many of the unlawful killings, leads to abuses going largely uninvestigated and unpunished," it said.

In Bangladesh, this month's general elections were also shrouded in "fears of widespread violence." The opposition, led by the Awami League, are boycotting the January 22 polls and violence during protests since April has killed at least 35 people.

In Sri Lanka, an upsurge in fighting between government troops and the Tamil Tigers has "resulted in a dramatic increase in serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law."

"Government forces were implicated in several massacres of civilians, indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling, and complicity in the abduction of children for use as combatants," HRW said.

The Tigers were also branded as "responsible for direct attacks on civilians with landmines and suicide bombings, targeted killing of political opponents, and the continued recruitment of children into their forces."

"International expressions of concern about the situation in Sri Lanka were greater in 2006 than at any time in recent memory, but these did not translate into international action on human rights," the report added.

India, widely hailed as the world's largest democracy with a vibrant press and civil society, also came in for stiff criticism.

"Officials and members of the security services who abuse their power are rarely if ever brought to justice for torture, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings in places like Jammu and Kashmir, the insurgency affected states in the northeast, and in areas where there is an extremist Maoist movement," HRW said.

In Kashmir, the report said "the Indian government has effectively given its forces free rein, while Pakistan and armed militant groups have never taken any action against militants who carry out atrocities."

Human Rights Watch also condemned India's failure "to protect the rights of children, religious minorities, those living with HIV/AIDS or those belonging to vulnerable communities such as tribal groups, Dalits and other 'backward' castes."

The situation in Nepal, where Maoist rebels declared an end to the decade-long insurgency and signed a peace deal with the government, gave some reason for cheer.

The human rights situation improved markedly after April 2006" when mass protests forced King Gyanendra to abandon direct rule and paved the way for the peace deal, HRW said.

But it also said both the Maoists and the government had "failed to institute accountability for past violations by their troops" and noted continued reports of abductions and murder.