Responding to the news that the Cabinet yesterday approved the final draft of the Cyber Security Act (CSA), which is to replace the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA), Nadia Rahman, Amnesty International’s interim deputy regional director for South Asia said, “The Cabinet must not push through the Cyber Security Act (CSA) as it is largely a replication of the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) that preceded it and retains repressive features which have been used to threaten and restrict the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and liberty in Bangladesh. Its various overbroad provisions fail to meet the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality, and are therefore incompatible with international human rights law.”
“The call for feedback on the CSA draft was a mere tick box exercise if substantial inputs by civil society were not taken into consideration. The CSA draft approved by the Cabinet, like the DSA, would empower the authorities to police permissible expression online and can be used to intimidate, harass and arbitrarily arrest journalists and human rights defenders, stifle peaceful dissent and silence critical opinions. Laws should be centered around protecting human rights, not clamping down on criticism,” she said.
“Amnesty International urges the Bangladeshi authorities to substantially amend the draft CSA before taking it any further and align it with international human rights law and standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a state party,” Nadia Rahman said.
