Enforced Disappearances: US congressional body reviews role of law enforcers
A US congressional body, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, yesterday held a virtual briefing on the role of law enforcement agencies in cases of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh.
The commission is a caucus body of the US House of Representatives whose motive is to "promote, defend and advocate internationally recognised human rights norms in a nonpartisan manner, both in and outside of Congress".
At the briefing, the caucus received formal submissions from Human Rights Watch, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, Asia Human Rights Commission and Maayer Daak, a platform of family members and relatives of victims of enforced disappearances. Two of the organisations recommended sanctions be imposed on Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Ambassador to the US M Shahidul Islam sent a letter to the chairs of the commission on Monday protesting the briefing.
Angelita Baeyens, vice president of the international advocacy and litigation department at Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, called for Rab officials to be banned from UN peacekeeping missions.
"We want to ask that the vetting policy in the UN is strengthened so that members of the Rab are not allowed in the peacekeeping missions," said Baeyens.
She spoke about the partnership between the US and Bangladesh and said it is possible that this support is used for law enforcement agencies that commit human rights violations.
Sanctions are a critical tool to advance accountability for human rights abuses, she said, adding that targeted individual sanctions will help spur change in Bangladesh.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, echoed the views of Baeyens.
"We believe that US should impose targeted sanctions against top security forces. This could spur accountability. There needs to be increased scrutiny of officials to make sure that they do not serve under the United Nations flag during peacekeeping missions," said Ganguly.
She pointed out that successive governments have been responsible for the human rights situation in Bangladesh.
"Since 2009, nearly 600 people have become victims of enforced disappearances. We documented 86 cases where the victims are still missing. They are still outside the protection of the law," said Ganguly.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from Houston said, "Once you are being heard by the commission, our mission is to continue being truthful. Bangladesh has already been exposed. I have heard it; the commission has heard it."
The speakers said they are recommending sanctions because they do not believe Bangladesh will investigate enforced disappearance cases.
"The government has been warned time and time again of the scale of the human rights abuses, and the scale of impunity. But the lack of any action demonstrates that the government is not going to hold the perpetrators accountable," said Baeyens.
Md Ashrafuzzaman, liaison officer for the Asia Human Rights Commission, said, "The government defends and denies that the crime exists in Bangladesh. A judicial officer had so far only investigated one case, following a habeas corpus petition. The High Court ruled that the police had forcibly disappeared a homeopathic practitioner. The rule was issued in 2017 but so far, no steps have been taken."
"Why is there repeated denial, what is the reason behind the government not investigating? It is the state's responsibility to find out where the victims are regardless of political views," said Sanjida Islam Tulee, who runs Maayer Daak.
She also briefed the commission at length about how she had multiple meetings with law enforcement agencies, who confirmed to her that her brother Sajedul Islam Sumon was being arbitrarily detained in custody.
Renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam said, "When I was taken to court, the judge said that my family should consider themselves lucky that I wasn't disappeared. The government's primary accountability is to the people. Why has not a single case been investigated?"
Bruce Vaughn, specialist in Asian Affairs at Congressional Research Service, moderated the session.
AMBASSADOR'S LETTER
The Bangladeshi ambassador sent a letter to the commission on Monday to inform it about the government's stance on this issue.
This newspaper has obtained a copy of the letter.
"We have heard some of those allegations before and investigated the matters with due seriousness. We are concerned that there has been a pattern for quite some time to label all cases of missing with enforced disappearance with obvious intention of maligning the government and its achievements," said the letter.
"In many cases the 'perceived' victims have reappeared proving the allegations of so-called 'enforced disappearance' false," it added.
The letter stated that these are being caused by people impersonating law enforcement agencies.
It said the government has investigated many such cases and found "no evidence of government involvement".
The letter also discredited a recent report by Human Rights Watch on enforced disappearances.
"[This was] built on questionable sources of information and should not be believed. For example, the recent study published by the Human Rights Watch is dependent on interviews with unidentified individuals, including 60 interviews with unnamed people, 81 citations from unnamed individuals, and 7 witnesses who are allowed to remain anonymous. While Bangladesh takes seriously and investigates every reported disappearance, it cannot, logistically or legally, give credence to anonymous sources that make such allegations," said the letter.
The ambassador concluded by asking the commission to extradite Rashed Chowdhury, a convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. "The killer has been sheltered in the US and yet to be returned despite our sincere efforts with the US government," said the letter.
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