International rights organisation Amnesty International on Tuesday demanded that the Bangladesh government must immediately rescind its decision to arbitrarily deregister rights organisation Odhikar and allow the leading human rights group in the country to function without fear of reprisals.
‘The reprisals against Odhikar are an egregious and shameless act to silence and intimidate human rights defenders in Bangladesh,” said Amnesty International’s South Asia campaigner Saad Hammadi in a statement.
‘Odhikar’s documentations of human right violations have been critical in holding perpetrators to account in Bangladesh. It is absurd that the authorities withheld the registration of the rights group for eight years and then cancelled it because of the global ire they faced for a poor human rights record,’ said Hammadi.
‘Odhikar’s deregistration is a clear demonstration of the government’s anger about the credibility the human rights organisation enjoys internationally,’ the statement added.
Reporting human rights violation is neither anti-government nor anti-state and the decision to deregister Odhikar is akin to shooting the messenger, Hammadi said.
The government must respond to the allegations of human rights violations through credible independent investigations and refrain from punishing human rights activists and civil society organisations, said Hammadi.
The Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha in India also condemned the cancellation of the registration of rights watchdog Odhikar.
In a statement on Tuesday, the organisation expressed their solidarity towards Odhikar.
‘We pledge to fight any violation of Odhikar’s rights,’ the statement said.
Odhikar serves as a pillar of the civil society in Bangladesh and as Odhikar faces the backlash from the government, it creates an ambience of deterioration of democratic well-being of the state, said Kirity Roy, secretary of the Indian rights group.
Three decades after the creation of the United Nations’ Human Rights Defenders Forum, the breach of the basic rights of Odhikar reflects on the silencing of human rights activism in the region and restates the need for international interference, the statement added.
The NGO Affairs Bureau of the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday rejected NGO Odhikar’s application for the renewal of its registration.
The bureau accused Odhikar of engaging in activities that tarnished the country’s image in the international arena.
Earlier in 2013, Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and director ASM Nasir Uddin Elan were arrested in connection with a report on casualties in a crackdown on a Hefazat-e-Islam rally in May, 2013. The case is still pending trial.
The government stated in its letter that Odhikar was registered as non-governmental voluntary organisation on March 25, 1995. The tenure of the registration expired on March 25, 2015.
