Dear All,
Bangladesh- Country Report on Human Rights Practices - 2007- US State Department released after approval of the US Congress, the summary is: "The government's human rights record worsened, in part due to the state of emergency and postponement of elections." who is responsible for this - clearly and evidently our two major political parties, BNP and AL. If the President would not have declared Emergency, there would have been "Blood Bath"- shame on all of us; after 1971 to 2007- 37 years, still no democracy in Bangladesh.
You can read the full text by going to www.state.gov then go to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007. in the annual reports press release. We shall soon meet to discuss all the related annual reports.
Regards.
Yours sincerely,
Golam F. Akhter
Bangladesh-USA Human Rights Coalition-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 11, 2008
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy of 150 million citizens. Khaleda Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), stepped down as prime minister in October 2006 when her five-year term of office expired and transferred power to a caretaker government that would prepare for general elections scheduled for January 22. On January 11, in the wake of political unrest, President Iajuddin Ahmed, the head of state and then head of the caretaker government, declared a state of emergency and postponed the elections. With support from the military, President Ahmed appointed a new caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, the former Bangladesh Bank governor. In July Ahmed announced that elections would be held by the end of 2008, after the implementation of electoral and political reforms. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, these forces frequently acted independently of government authority.
The government's human rights record worsened, in part due to the state of emergency and postponement of elections. The Emergency Powers Rules of 2007 (EPR), imposed by the government in January and effective through year's end, suspended many fundamental rights, including freedom of press, freedom of association, and the right to bail. The anticorruption drive initiated by the government, while greeted with popular support, gave rise to concerns about due process. For most of the year the government banned political activities, although this policy was enforced unevenly. While there was a significant drop in the number of extrajudicial killings by security forces, they were accused of serious abuses, including custodial deaths, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists. Some members of security forces acted with impunity and committed acts of physical and psychological torture. Violence against women and children remained a major problem, as was trafficking in persons.
Attachments Scanned - No Virus Detected (
