International civil society watchdog CIVICUS has added Bangladesh to its CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, marking the civic space in Bangladesh as “repressed.” This is the watchdog’s second-lowest rating, based on the civic space of jurisdictions evaulated in terms of expression, peaceful assembly, and freedom of association.
The decision to include Bangladesh results from an observed decline in civic freedoms. CIVICUS reports that the incumbent government, led by Sheikh Hasina, has systematically silenced opposition voices through the targeting and imprisonment of critics. Such restrictions are a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a signatory.
Among notable incidents, human rights defenders Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for violating Section 57 of the 2006 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The United Nations has raised concerns about potential due process violations in these trials.
Beyond these direct actions, the Bangladesh government is accused of using the Digital Security Act (DSA) to mute online criticism. The law has been condemned by human rights organisations for its broad and unclear clauses that enable authorities to monitor online spaces. Although Law Minister Anisul Huq announced the government’s intention to replace the DSA with the recently passed Cyber Security Act (CSA), the latter is viewed by human rights activists as comparably repressive and is yet to be implemented.
This isn’t the first time Bangladesh has been criticised for repressing civil freedom. Previously, the Center for Governance Studies disclosed that over 60% of human rights activists in the country consider their working environment “very unsafe” or “unsafe,” with over 42% associating threats and persecution with the state. In March, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged Bangladesh to abolish the DSA until it is in alignment with international human rights law. Türk cited the frequent employment of the Act in Bangladesh to intimidate and detain human rights defenders.