Geneva: UN rights organ OHCHR has suggested restructuring of Bangladesh’s security and policing systems and as part of the process disband the so-called elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) as it released its fact-finding report on violence over the July-August Uprising today.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report recommends disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion and returning personnel not involved in serious violations to their home units. The report urged the government to confine the functions of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to border control issues and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) to military intelligence, limiting their resources and legal powers accordingly.
The UN rights organ chief Volker Trk released the report at OHCHR headquarters in Geneva, stating that rights violations were committed with the “knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership and senior security sector and intelligence officials.” The report cites reasonable grounds to believe that hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests, and detentions, as well as torture, were carried out as part of a strategy to suppress the protests.
The report highlights that intelligence services, including National Security Intelligence (NSI) and DGFI, along with specialized police branches like Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) and detective units, were engaged in widespread human rights violations to support the violent suppression of the protest movement. The OHCHR advises that until a ‘screening mechanism’ is established, Bangladesh should not nominate for UN peacekeeping operations any military or police personnel who served with RAB, DGFI, or Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch at any previous point.
The report also calls for the government to ‘demilitarize’ control of para-police Ansar and VDP. RAB, a special police unit comprising personnel from the army, navy, air force, regular police, and Ansar, has previously been accused by rights groups of massive human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings. In December 2021, the US State Department and Treasury Department imposed separate sanctions on RAB and seven of its current and former senior officials over allegations of serious human rights abuse.
Further recommendations include amendments to align the ‘Police Regulations of Bengal’ with international human rights norms and standards, particularly regarding the use of force. It suggests prohibiting the use of firearms loaded with metal shot or other lethal ammunition to disperse crowds and ceasing the equipping of police with metal shot ammunition for public order management. The report calls for revising security forces’ doctrines and training on public order management, emphasizing less-lethal tactics and equipment.
The report urges the government to issue and enforce binding orders to cease practices of mass charges and arrests, particularly those based on unsubstantiated suspect lists. It recommends instituting disciplinary and criminal justice proceedings for false accusations or arbitrary arrests, and fully implementing the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Act. It also suggests reforming police investigation techniques and adopting merit-based police recruitment and promotions.
The UN organ recommends enacting an ordinance to ensure that members of the Armed Forces can only be assigned to internal security tasks under exceptional circumstances. It advocates for a fair vetting process of all commissioned officers in police, intelligence, BGB, Ansar VDP, and Armed Forces, to remove those involved in serious violations or corrupt practices. Lastly, the UN rights office calls for an independent human rights screening mechanism to ensure no Bangladeshi personnel deployed to UN peace operations or other missions is subject to credible allegations of human rights violations or abuse.