Bangladesh rights record faces US scrutiny

Bangladesh rights record faces US scrutiny

Source : The Daily Star (Bangladesh)

AP, Washington

Accusations of extrajudicial killings by Bangladeshi paramilitary forces and the South Asian nation's refusal to grant refuge to fleeing refugees faced scrutiny from US lawmakers Thursday.

The congressional hearing also examined allegations of abuses against labor and opposition activists in the moderate Islamic nation, whose human rights problems weigh on Washington's efforts to forge stronger relations.

Lawmakers singled out for concern Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion. The paramilitary unit was formed to fight organized crime but Human Rights Watch calls it a death squad.

Top US diplomat for South Asia, Robert Blake, said the unit's record has improved, but cited figures from a Bangladeshi rights group that the battalion has committed 34 killings so far this year. That compares with 83 deaths in 2010 and 51 in 2011.

"There's been some progress, but again, it's still a very large number," Blake told the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Blake said the US has helped set up an inquiry cell within the battalion, which comprises police and army soldiers, as a means for it to probe its rights abuses.

Bangladesh's government, elected in 2008, denies the battalion has committed unlawful killings on its watch.

John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said the government which had promised before the election to crack down on the abuses needs again to admit there's a problem.

"They should either disband it, or at least disconnect it from the military, and either way they need to take steps to hold it accountable for its past crimes," Sifton said.

Democrat congressman Joe Crowley moderated the criticism of Bangladesh's rights record by crediting it for the conduct of a free and fair elections in 2008 praise that drew hearty applause from supporters of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attending the hearing.

But Crowley also urged Bangladesh bring to justice those responsible for the "brutal murder" of labor leader Aminul Islam, who led a campaign for higher wages for the country's 3 million garment workers.

Islam was found dead along a highway April 5. His family blames the killing on law enforcement agencies.

Crowley voiced particular concern that ethnic Rohingya women and children fleeing communal violence in western Myanmar last month had been turned back by Bangladeshi authorities.

Clashes between the Rohingya, who are Muslims, and Buddhists in Myanmar's Rakhine state left scores dead and tens of thousands displaced. Crowley said he would raise concerns over the Rohingyas' plight with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she visits the United States in September.

The Rohingya are in a stateless limbo. Myanmar considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh says Rohingyas have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognized there as citizens.

Blake said that Bangladesh has allowed more than 250,000 Rohingya to live there for more than 30 years but turned back those fleeing the recent violence, despite US urging that Dhaka abide by its international obligations to provide refuge, and US and UN offers of assistance.

Bangladesh said its resources were too strained.