Bangladesh’s Commitment to the Human Rights Council: Better than the USA?

The human rights situation around the world has now taken a dire shape.

At present there are 89.3 million displaced people and over 27 million refugees in the world. The war in Ukraine, global economic recession, food and aid crisis is making the situation worst. Internal strife, Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global situation and the Russia-Ukraine war, are having an adverse impact on the human rights situation. The US and the Western world are always eager to point out human rights in developing countries. The misery of the people around the world due to their involvement as well as the human rights abuses in their own countries are not reflected in those reports. The US and the Western world often become vocal about Bangladesh's human rights without considering their own situation.

On April 12, the US State Department released the 2021 report on the human rights situation in 198 countries and regions of the world, including Bangladesh. The report mentions various human rights violations in Bangladesh such as extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, freedom of speech, restrictions on the media, as well as abuse of power by the security forces and their lack of accountability. Although the report mentioned 198 countries about the human rights situation in the world, there was no information about the US. A news report on Bangladesh's security forces on human rights said that 12 international human rights organizations have demanded a ban on the deployment of Bangladesh's RAB members to UN peacekeeping missions. Report published by the US has pointed out that the law enforcement forces of Bangladesh are being given impunity in most of the cases. In all countries of the world law enforcement agencies always face challenges in performing their duties. Bangladesh government expressed displeasure over the impartiality of the report. Bangladesh has taken necessary measures to remove the misconceptions of the US government.

In 2020, there were 85,000 human rights violations in the United States, which is vocal about human rights around the world. Six to seven hundred incidents occur in Bangladesh every year which can happen in a populous country like Bangladesh. The US is killing thousands of innocent civilians in the name of establishing democracy and human rights in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In last seven years about seven thousand people have been killed by the police and thousands of people are victims of social discrimination in US. The United States has the highest number of extrajudicial killings in the world. In 2021, 1039 people were shot and killed in US; most of them were black or Hispanic. Those responsible for these killings are rarely brought to justice. However, it is said that the killing was necessary for the sake of self-defence. Last year, when a black man was killed by the police for a trivial reason, a movement of blacks started in the United States saying 'Black Lives Matter'. Black people are arrested and detained six times more often than whites, and many unarmed African-Americans are killed by the police. 78 percent of Americans think the police do not treat all Americans equally. Incidents of disappearances, murders and police torture are increasing day by day there. An average of 5 to 6 hundred thousand people goes missing in the United States every year, and American citizens are worried about these incidents. To prevent these inhumane incidents, the US should pay attention to the root causes of the deterioration of the human rights situation in their country and deal with its own human rights problems.

The US has unilaterally imposed sanctions on various countries around the world, causing unbearable and extensive damage to the lives of people there, which amounts to human rights violations. These sanctions have led to wars in countries and seriously threatened the personal dignity, religious freedom, security of life, and right to life of ordinary people. The US along with its allies started the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War from 1990 to 2011 in the name of restoring democracy and peace, turning those countries into piles of ruins. As a result, nearly forty percent countries of the world were directly affected and millions of people were displaced and forced to seek refuge in different countries.

The US started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in violation of international law. Nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan have forced 2.6 million people to flee abroad and displaced 3.5 million Afghans. Since the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021, the US has imposed economic sanctions on Afghanistan and withheld nearly nine billion dollars from the Afghan central bank, putting the Afghan economy at risk. US economic sanctions on Afghanistan have led to a food crisis in the country, and nearly half of children under the age of 5 are severely malnourished.

More than 200,000 Iraqi civilians have died in war and violent conflict since the start of the US war in Iraq in 2003 until 2021. 9.2 million Iraqis were forced to leave the country as refugees. US military contractors killed civilians in Iraq for no reason. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump pardoned employees of Black water, a war criminal contractor in Iraq.

A report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has been published about countries full of problems and concerns about human rights. Michelle Bachelet visited Bangladesh and after the visit the report was released. The report did not reveal any concerns about human rights or other issues in Bangladesh. It urged the international community to increase pressure on Myanmar, emphasizing the Rohingya crisis and referring to Myanmar's crimes against humanity.

From above it is clear that the human rights situation of Bangladesh is better than the US. Bangladesh does not torture prisoners inhumanely and Bangladesh does not have the infamous 'Guantanamo Bay' prison like the US. Under the strong leadership of Prime Minister, the development activities are getting momentum. At present, Bangladesh has been elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the next three years, with the highest vote among candidates in Asia and the Pacific region. This is recognition of the human right situation in the country. The UN members took part at the voting in the UN General Assembly in New York on 11 October 2022 where 14 countries, including Bangladesh, were elected new members of the UNHRC. Being elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Organization is certainly an important news. Bangladesh will be more focused on protecting human rights in future as a proud member of this organization.

Written by Shafiqul Elahi, a retired government official of Bangladesh

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