Int’l Day of the Disappeared today<\/strong>
\nEnforced disappearance keeps taking place, with 67 cases reported in Bangladesh after the assumption of office by the Awami League-led government.
\nInternational Day of the Disappeared will be observed today in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world.
\nAccording to rights group Odhikar, although the number of people who disappeared is high, 67 cases after the Awami League and Jatiya Party-led alliance government came to power in 2009 are clearly of the category of \u2018enforced disappearance\u2019 as defined by the international human rights law, particularly the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
\nEnforced disappearance are said to have taken place when the act is alleged to have happened with the authorisation, support, or acquiescence of a state or state agencies or political organisation, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person\u2019s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law, thus further violating his fundamental human rights.
\nThe 67 victims of enforced disappearance during the present government\u2019s tenure include the Bangladesh Nationalist Party\u2019s organising secretary Ilias Ali, also a former lawmaker, who disappeared from Banani in the capital around midnight past April 17.
\nIlias Ali disappeared at a time when incidents of secret killings and enforced disappearances assumed an alarming height amid protests by rights defenders.
\nThe disappearance of labour leader Aminul Islam on April 4 and his killing on April 5 significantly harmed the government\u2019s international image and proved again the horrendous state of intimidation and repression suffered by garment workers.
\nEnforced disappearance, however, is not a new phenomenon in the country, rights activists said.
\nNational minority leader Kalpana Chakma disappeared from New Lalyaghona, Baghaichari in Rangamati on June 12, 1996.
\nAlthough enforced disappearance has been committed for long, the heinous form of rights violation has increased during the tenure of the present government, causing serious concern of national and international rights organisations as none of the incidents have ever been investigated by any independent investigation agency, said poet and rights activist Farhad Mazhar, rights activist Shahdeen Malik, also a Supreme Court lawyer and BRAC University law dean, and Odhikar\u2019s secretary Adilur Rahman Khan.
\nThe Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances on June 14 urged the Bangladesh government to take immediate steps to stop enforced disappearances of the people allegedly after being picked up by law enforcers.
\nThe federation, a platform of rights organisations of families of the disappeared and advocates working directly on the issue of enforced disappearance in the region, made the urge in a letter it sent to the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations.
\nAmbassadors of nine European countries on May 9 said that the authorities concerned should conduct thorough investigations of the incidents of enforced disappearance and killings, including the disappearance of Ilias Ali and Aminul Islam.
\nEnforced disappearance, killing, street violence, general strike and corruption \u2018are creating\u2019 a negative image of Bangladesh abroad, they said at a press conference.
\nThe ambassadors called for a resolution to political problems through dialogues between political parties which they said would create a \u2018welcoming atmosphere\u2019 for foreign companies to invest in Bangladesh.
\nThe United States on July 20 said that there were credible reports that the Rapid Action Battalion, a paramilitary law enforcement agency composed of policemen and army soldiers, was involved in some extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
\n\u2018Due to \u201cLeahy vetting requirements\u201d, we are barred from providing RAB with any form of training other than that related to human rights,\u2019 said Robert Blake, assistant secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in his testimony at Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress in Washington on July 20.
\nHe said that the US government embedded a retired US marshal within the battalion for four months in 2011 to help stand up and operationalise an internal affairs unit that will provide a much-needed mechanism to hold accountable those who commit human rights violations.
\nOdhikar is particularly concerned about the manifested lack of sensitivity to the issue and absence of any steps that could assure the government\u2019s commitment to good governance with regard to disciplining the law and order enforcement apparatus of the country, Adilur Rahman said.
\nFarhad, Shahdeen and Adilur said that without an independent inquiry of the incidents and legal equipment and steps against such a crime, enforced disappearance would not be stopped.
\nThey urged the government to accede to the International Convention of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, signed by 91 countries and ratified by 34.
\nThe convention was adopted in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly and it came into force on December 23, 2010.
\nAgainst the backdrop, International Day of the Disappeared will be observed today. Different organisations have planned elaborate programmes to mark the day.
\nOdhikar will bring out processions in 10 district headquarters and submit memorandums to the prime minister through the deputy commissioners demanding independent inquiry of the disappearances and an immediate ratification of the International Convention of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of New Age<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Int’l Day of the Disappeared today Enforced disappearance keeps taking place, with 67 cases reported in Bangladesh after the assumption of office by the Awami League-led government. International Day of the Disappeared will be observed today in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world. According to rights group Odhikar, although the number of people who disappeared … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[8846],"yoast_head":"\n