Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Bangladesh

Restrictive Bill on freedom of association1

By the end of 2005, the Amendment Bill to the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Ordinance, proposed by the government in 2004, had still not been adopted.

The Bill would enable the government to exercise increased control over NGOs (including interfering with internal management, power to dismantle organisations, etc.).

Lack of investigation into the attack against HRCBM and ongoing acts of harassment against its members2

On 17 April 2004, several members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had broken into the office of the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in Dhaka. The perpetrators of this attack had occupied the premises until 22 April 2004 and threatened the members and staff members of HRCBM-Dhaka, including Mr. Dulal Choudhury, a lawyer and vice-president of HRCBM-Dhaka, with "serious consequences" if they decided to report the incident. Despite these threats, they had nonetheless lodged a complaint, but none of the assailants had been arrested by the end of 2005.

HRCBM-Dhaka had also filed a case with the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrates Court under article 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, demanding to regain possession of its office. The judge had ordered the police to produce an investigation report, which, by the end of 2005, had still not been presented to the Court.

Besides, the complaint filed following those events by Mrs. Biva Rani Biswas, HRCBM secretary, was still pending before the Metropolitan Magistrates Court.

Furthermore, HRCBM members continued to be victims of acts of harassment in 2005. On 5 August 2005, whilst Mr. Rabindra Gosh, HRCBM president, and Professor Asok Taru Saha, vice-president of HRCBM-Dhaka, were returning from Jamalpur, where they had carried out an investigation on alleged acts of torture against members of the Ahyamedia community, they were violently attacked by persons who identified themselves as BNP members.

Harassment campaign against Proshika3

Proshika, a development NGO working, notably through granting micro-credit, on women's rights and voters' education, has been targeted by the authorities since the BNP electoral victory in October 2001. Thus, the authorities accused it of participating in political activities, without being able to bring evidence to support these accusations. Proshika has also been under investigation since 2002 for alleged embezzlement, in the course of which the association has been prevented from accessing its funding from overseas sources.

At the beginning of 2005, newspapers announced that Proshika had finally received the approval of the NGO Affairs Bureau to initiate an important project on sustainable agriculture, in collaboration with a number of international NGOs. Nevertheless, by late September 2005, the funds for this project had still not been released.

On 22 May 2004, Mr. Quazi Faruque Ahmed, president of Proshika, and Mr. David William Biswas, vice-president, had been arrested in Dhaka. Both had been accused of "mismanagement of funds" and "fraud" under Article 402 of the Criminal Code. They had eventually been released on bail, respectively in early June 2004 and late 2004. Nevertheless, at the end of 2005, the charges against them were still pending.

Continuing acts of harassment against PRIP Trust4

In 2005, the government did not stop intimidating and harassing the Private Rural Initiatives Project TRUST (PRIP Trust), an NGO working in the humanitarian and social fields and in favour of the rights of minorities in Bangladesh.

On 29 March 2005, the NGO Affairs Bureau informed PRIP Trust that the government had authorised it to take part in the "SMILING" project of the European Union, which the latter had entrusted to PRIP Trust in 2002. Furthermore, on 25 April 2005, the English-speaking daily New Age announced that "the government decided to release eight million euros to PRIP Trust, whose funds were held up by the authorities since early 2002 pending investigation".

Nevertheless, in September 2005, the funds had still not been released, although Mrs. Aroma Dutta, executive director of PRIP Trust, had resigned from her position as a member of the executive board of Proshika at the request of the authorities, as a precondition for the release of the funds allocated to PRIP Trust.

Since April 2002, the NGO has functioned without salaries and has survived by procuring technical capacity building assistance, thanks to the support of certain donors.

Assassination of two members of Christian Life Bangladesh5

On 29 July 2005, two employees of the international NGO Christian Life Bangladesh, Mr. Liplal Marandi and Mr. Tapan Kumar Roy, were killed in the village of Dopapara, Boalmari Upazila, Faridpur district.

1. See Annual Report 2004.

2. Idem.

3. See Annual Report 2004 and FIDH mission Report, Speaking out Makes of You a Target – Human Rights Defenders and Journalists at Risk – Grave Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Bangladesh, Chapter 'Freedom of Association', written in the framework of the Observatory, June 2005.

4. Idem.

5. See Odhikar.

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