Civil Liberties: Rights body classifies Bangladesh as ‘repressed’

Civicus, an international non-profit that fights for civil liberties and civic rights globally, released a report yesterday classifying Bangladesh as "repressed".

The annual report from Civicus titled "People Power Under Attack 2020" rates and tracks respect for fundamental freedoms in 196 countries.

The categories used to judge countries include freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

Countries are rated as "open", "narrowed", "obstructed", "repressed" and "closed". Canada for example is rated as "open".

Pakistan, India, Myanmar are also rated "repressed" while Nepal, Srilanka and Bhutan are classified as "obstructed".

"In Bangladesh, the Civicus Monitor documented in 2020 that the Digital Security Act is the weapon of choice used by the authorities to pursue critics, including those critical of its handling of the pandemic. Media workers, activists, academics and students have been targeted, including prominent journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who was charged in May 2020 after he was forcibly disappeared for 53 days," stated the report.

"There has been a disturbing increase in press freedom violations. The authorities continued to block numerous news sites critical of the government, including investigative journalism websites," said the report.

"There has also been violence by political activists against reporters in the field. Activists linked to the ruling party were involved in attacks on journalists during the covering of Dhaka municipal elections in February 2020," it added.

In order to make judgments about these, the report evaluated whether states endorse impunity for cases of physical attacks, disappearances, assault, illegal detention, verbal abuse, harassment and intimidation of civil society. They see if there is active involvement or support from the state in cover ups and undermining investigations and prosecution.

To rate the state of freedom of association in country, the monitor also evaluates whether activists are imprisoned, attacked or tortured, whether civil society organisations face barriers in operation.

Freedom of expression is evaluated based on whether journalists face legal or physical harassment, or risk their lives, and whether independent journalism is allowed.

In addition to Bangladesh, 43 countries (out of 196) were also classified as repressed.