Bangladesh experienced a 'paroxysm of violence' last year, says UN human rights chief

United Nations/Geneva: The UN human rights chief Monday said that Bangladesh experienced a "paroxysm of violence" last year as the government of the time "brutally suppressed" a student movement that carried human rights as its torch.

"The country is now charting a new future. Our recent independent fact-finding report on the grave human rights violations that took place is an important contribution to this journey," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in his global update to the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Türk hoped the fact-finding report would support truth-telling, accountability, reparations, healing and reform.

“It will be crucial to ensure due process in criminal cases and investigate revenge violence, including against minorities,” he said.

The anti-government protests, led by students, ended Hasina's over 15-year-old rule in August last year. Hasina fled to India following her ouster.

Last month, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Fact-Finding Report: ‘Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh’ by the UN Human Rights Office had said that human rights abuses were inflicted on some members of Bangladesh’s Hindu, Ahmadiyya Muslim and indigenous communities during protests in the country and in their aftermath last year.

The report, which covered the period from July 1 to August 15 during the violent agitation by students demanding Hasina’s ouster, estimated that "as many as 1,400 people may have been killed” over 45 days.

"Bangladesh’s former Government and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests," the UN Human Rights Office report said.

The report said that in the aftermath of the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government last year, “widespread attacks were reported against Hindu homes, businesses, and places of worship, especially in rural and historically tense areas such as Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, and Dinajpur, but also in other places such as Sylhet, Khulna, and Rangpur.” In his report on Monday, Türk also underlined that India's democracy and institutions have been its greatest strength as he called for "stepped-up" efforts to address violence and displacement in Manipur, based on dialogue, peacebuilding and human rights.

"India's democracy and institutions have been its greatest strength, underpinning its diversity and development. Democracy requires constant nurturing of participation and inclusion at all levels of society,” he said.

He said he is "concerned by the use of restrictive laws and harassment against human rights defenders and independent journalists resulting in arbitrary detention and a diminished civic space, including in Kashmir."