Bangladesh downgraded in civic space rating
Global watchdog CIVICUS, in its annual report on the state of civil rights, has marked Bangladesh's civic space "closed" for the first time.
"Closed" is its worst rating and the downgrade of Bangladesh is the result of a massive government crackdown on opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to the upcoming national elections, it said in its report released yesterday.
The "People Power Under Attack-2023" reports details of civic space conditions in 198 countries and territories.
Bangladesh's "closed" status places it among the 28 most restricted countries, along with Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Laos, and Nicaragua.
On Bangladesh, the report said, "The authorities have targeted human rights defenders, journalists, protesters and other critics using intimidation, violence, arrest and torture, while security forces detained thousands of opposition members on fabricated charges."
Josef Benedict, Asia-Pacific researcher for CIVICUS, said, "No free and fair elections can take place in the current environment."
CIVICUS lead researcher Marianna Belalba Barreto said, "We are witnessing an unprecedented global crackdown on civic space ... Bangladesh is now at the forefront of the worldwide assault on rights. The independent civil society has virtually no more space to operate there."
Only two countries in Asia were downgraded -- Bangladesh and Sri Lanka -- but Sri Lanka was categorised as "repressed".
The report said Bangladesh's violent attempt to crush the political opposition is the main reason for the downgrade.
Police banned protests and blocked roads, then followed up by indiscriminately firing rubber bullets, teargas shells and water cannons at protesters who came out anyway, it said, adding that police also beat opposition supporters with batons, while ruling party supporters, armed with hammers, sticks and clubs, attacked protesters as law enforcement stood by.
"The authorities also targeted journalists exposing state abuses and shut down critical media outlets. Meanwhile, a new Cyber Security Act, rather than freeing online expression, retained most of the repressive language of the previous draconian Digital Security Act used to criminalise thousands of online critics."
It also said security forces stepped up harassment of human rights defenders too, including those in exile and their families.
Benedict said, "Now is the time for the international community to stand with Bangladesh's civil society and demand the Sheikh Hasina regime reverse course.
"World leaders must demand the immediate release of jailed opposition leaders and activists and urge the government to allow all political parties to genuinely participate in the elections."
The CIVICUS rates each country's civic space conditions based on data collected throughout the year from country-focused civil society activists, regionally-based research teams, international human rights indices, and its own experts.
The data from these four sources are then combined to assign each country a rating as either "open", "narrowed", "obstructed", "repressed" or "closed".
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