Freedom in the World 1998 - Bangladesh

1998 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 3.0
Civil Liberties: 4
Political Rights: 2

Overview

In a landmark court ruling in November 1998, 15 former army officers were sentenced to death for killing the country's independence leader in a 1975 coup, an event that continues to polarize Bangladeshi politics.

Bangladesh won independence in 1971 after a brief war with occupying West Pakistan. After 15 years of often turbulent rule by a succession of generals, the country's democratic transition began with the resignation of General H. M. Ershad in 1990 in the wake of pro-democracy demonstrations.

Elections in 1991 brought the centrist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to power under Khaleda Zia. A national referendum then transformed the powerful presidency into a largely ceremonial head of state in a parliamentary system.

In 1994, the center-left opposition Awami League boycotted the parliament to protest alleged official corruption and a rigged by-election, thereby triggering two years of crippling general strikes and partisan violence. The Awami League boycotted the February 1996 elections, which the BNP won handily, but then forced Zia's resignation. In June 1996 elections, which were held with a 73 percent turnout, the Awami League won 146 of 300 parliamentary seats. (Thirty additional seats are reserved for women.) The BNP won 113 seats, while Ershad's Jatiya Party won 33. The Awami League's Sheikh Hasina Wajed formed a government initially backed by the Jatiya Party.

In August 1997, the BNP quit parliament to protest alleged harassment of its workers and a proposed treaty giving India transit rights through Bangladesh. Despite constant tensions, the Awami League and the BNP differ little on domestic policy. Their disputes mainly reflect the intense personal rivalry between Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, and Zia, the widow of an army general implicated in the coup that toppled Sheikh Mujib in 1975. In March 1998, the BNP returned to parliament after the government pledged to enforce parliamentary rules evenly and permit BNP street rallies in Dhaka.

In the summer, Bangladesh's worst flooding ever caused approximately 1,500 deaths, left millions of people homeless, and caused more than $4.3 billion in losses in agriculture, industry, and infrastructure. Many Bangladeshis appeared to welcome the November court decision, which could result in the public execution of the four officers who were in the country for the trial.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Bangladeshis can change their government through elections. The 1996 elections, the freest in Bangladesh's history despite some violence and irregularities, were the first under a March 1996 constitutional amendment requiring a caretaker government to conduct elections. The military's influence in politics continues to diminish. Frequent parliamentary boycotts by both major parties have undermined the legislative process.

Political institutions are weak. Politics are frequently conducted through strikes and demonstrations that are marred by violence and clashes between party activists and police.

The judiciary is independent, but lower courts are plagued by corruption, severe backlogs, and lengthy pretrial detentions. In practice, poor people have limited recourse through the courts. Torture, rape, and other abuse of suspects and prisoners is routine, widespread, and rarely punished.

Both the Zia and Hasina governments have used the 1974 Special Powers Act, which allows authorities to detain suspects without charge for up to 120 days, against political opponents. Human rights advocates have sharply criticized the practice of "safe custody" detention, whereby judges have ostensibly protected female victims of rape, kidnapping, and trafficking by imprisoning them for up to four years.

The print media is diverse, outspoken, and under pressure. In April, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres reported that at least five journalists had been arrested in recent months and that at least seven had been harassed by police since the beginning of the year. In March, a court sentenced three journalists from the weekly Benapole Barta to one year's imprisonment, pending appeal, for defamation. Party activists and Islamic fundamentalists also harass journalists. Unknown assailants killed the editor of an outspoken newspaper in Jessore in August. Political considerations influence the apportionment of government advertising revenue and subsidized newsprint, on which most publications are dependent. Broadcast media are state-owned, and coverage favors the ruling party.

Rape, dowry-related assaults, acid-throwing, and other violent acts against women are apparently increasing, with minimal police intervention. A law requiring rape victims to file police reports and obtain medical certificates within 24 hours of the crime in order to press charges prevents most rape cases from reaching the courts. Police also accept bribes not to register cases. In April, parliament approved the death penalty for rape, murder, trafficking, and other crimes against women. Yet the 1995 Women Repression Law and similar laws are weakly enforced, and it remains to be seen whether this measure will have much effect. In rural areas, religious leaders arbitrarily impose floggings and other punishments on women accused of violating strict moral codes. Women face discrimination in health care, education, and employment. In September, Taslima Nasreen, a feminist writer who fled Bangladesh in 1994 following death threats by Islamic fundamentalists, returned to the country to care for her ailing mother and received new death threats. She was also ordered to appear in court to respond to two blasphemy suits.

Organized networks, operating with the complicity of local authorities, send approximately 15,000 women and children each year to Pakistan and other countries for prostitution and other forced labor. Domestic child prostitution remains a problem.

Islam is the official religion. Hindus, Christians, and other minorities worship freely, but face societal discrimination. All but 21,000 of the 250,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from Burma in 1991 and 1992 to escape forced labor and other abuses have been repatriated. The remaining Rohingyas refuse to return, citing fear of further abuse by the Burmese army.

Union formation is hampered by a 30 percent employee approval requirement and restrictions on organizing by unregistered unions. Workers suspected of union activities can be legally transferred or fired. Unions are largely prohibited in the two export processing zones. The Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union is one of the few effective nonpartisan unions. In low-wage industries, working conditions are poor, and anti-union harassment and discrimination are prevalent. Child labor is widespread.