The current situation of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh is very alarming. The case of enforced disappearance though started more than three and a half years ago, has drawn the attention and alarm of the global community. Visibly, democracy in Bangladesh is at its most vulnerable situation. The government and its security forces have been resorting to nefarious tactics of secret abduction, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearance.
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances is deeply concerned about the systematic pattern of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh which has become gravely alarming- a concerted scheme to eliminate people deemed undesirable especially political opponents. Politically motivated enforced disappearances are done in the context of the general atmosphere of impunity granted to law enforcement agencies and security forces in Bangladesh.
The abduction of Mr. Ilias Ali and his chauffeur, Ansar Ali in the midnight of 17 April 2012, near the capital Dhaka, while on their way home after meeting political supporters at a hotel has added to the alarming list of increasing number of enforced disappearances allegedly perpetrated by security forces. Before his disappearance, Mr. Ilias Ali was the Organizing Secretary of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), and has a prominent role in coordinating legitimate protests, demonstrations and party gatherings.
Allegedly, they were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by security forces as part of suppression of the opposition. As a member of the United Nations and signatory to its human rights treaties, Bangladesh has a legal duty to prevent and punish enforced disappearance as part of its obligation to ensure the life, dignity, liberty and other rights and freedoms of its citizens.
To remind the Government of Bangladesh, these legal and moral duties arise from the many international instruments of the United Nations including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it ratified on 6 December 2000.
Furthermore, the Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances of the United Nations General Assembly confirmed that state duties to effectively prevent and prosecute perpetrators of enforced disappearances are part of the duties under the ICCPR and UDHR to ensure the rights to liberty and security, freedom from torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, and equal protection of the law.
The Declaration also confirms that, “No circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances.”
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties determines that States are bound by their treaty obligations and all treaty obligations must be performed in good faith. Article 27 of the Vienna Convention reads: “A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.” This principle was part of the international law long before the Vienna Convention came into force. Failure to act quickly and effectively would in the circumstances itself constitutes a violation of the ICCPR.
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the Government of Bangladesh to act immediately to locate, safely release and return of Mr. Ilias Ali and his chauffeur, Mr. Ansar Ali, to their respective families. AFAD also urges the Government of Bangladesh to ensure actions to punish past enforced disappearances and other human rights violations and prevent future cases from happening. AFAD fears that the failure of the state authorities to immediately locate and surface them would contribute to further grave physical and psychological injuries to or deaths of Mr. Ilias Ali and Mr. Ansar Ali, and cause further sufferings to their families.
AFAD urges the Government of Bangladesh to order its law enforcement authorities to immediately and seriously tackle these enforced disappearances, stop the use of torture and extrajudicial killing, and end the increasing crackdown on the freedom of expression and dissent.
In this recent spate of impunity, dozens of people were forcibly disappeared including prominent political opposition leaders. Journalists and human rights defenders continued to be attacked and harassed. Blamed are security forces, accusing the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and local police of eliminating opposition figures and their supporters.
Despite state denial, there is an alarming trend that apparently suggests the security forces are responsible for the unabated systematic pattern of forcible disappearances in Bangladesh. With this, the Government of Bangladesh is accountable to its people and the community of nations. It has to end the utter lack of accountability on the alarmingly rising cases of enforced disappearances and other grave human rights violations.
To reiterate, AFAD is deeply concerned about the safety and fate of Mr. Ilias Ali and his chauffer, Ansar Ali, and urges the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to:
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Expedite and exhaust all means to locate and secure the safe release of the two victims of enforced disappearances;
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Conduct a serious investigation of their disappearance and bring all those responsible to justice;
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Provide protection to the families of Mr. Ilias Ali and Ansar Ali, and witnesses to their enforced disappearance;
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Ensure the protection of all human rights defenders, environmental and labor rights activists, and;
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To investigate all cases of enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations.
Finally, AFAD calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to sign and ratify the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the enactment of pieces of domestic legislation criminalizing enforce disappearance.
Signed and authenticated by:
KHURRAM PARVEZ
Chairperson
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary-General