UNB, Dhaka :
The United Kingdom (UK) has said new policies and legislation developed in Bangladesh this year have generated concerns about restrictions on civil society space and media freedoms.
The UK in its country case study update on Bangladesh which forms part or the 2013 Human Rights and Democracy Report, also said the risk of political violence in Bangladesh remains a concern.
While political violence related to protests has declined since Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections in January 2014, NGOs reported a spike in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the months following the election, said the report.
It said, Bangladesh’s 10th parliamentary elections on January 5, 2014 were not contested by the former opposition 18-Party Alliance, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),
due to concerns that free and fair elections could not be held in the absence of a neutral caretaker government.
With over half the parliamentary seats uncontested, Awami League won a second successive term, the report mentioned.
Twenty-one deaths were reported on polling day and over 100 school-based polling centres burnt down. Since the election, BNP has committed to peaceful protest, and there have been significantly fewer enforced general strikes and transport blockades than in 2013, the report said.
In a statement on January 6, the then Minister for Human Rights, Baroness Warsi, urged all of Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to address political accountability.
She deplored the acts of intimidation and unlawful violence from all parties, and called on all Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to strengthen democratic accountability and to build a willingness and capacity to hold future participatory elections without the fear of intimidation or reprisals.
On January 22, the UK’s High Commissioner in Bangladesh condemned the violence in his meetings with the Bangladesh Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the Minister of Communications, and the Minister of Commerce.
All the main political parties fielded candidates in local sub-district (Upazila) elections in March.
After trailing the BNP in the first two rounds, the Awami League won most seats in the final three rounds.
This was accompanied by a significant increase in NGO and media reports of intimidation and interference in the electoral process.
Baroness Warsi discussed the matter with the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK on May 13.
She called on the Bangladesh Election Commission to mount a full and transparent investigation into the reports and to take appropriate action.
The then Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Alan Duncan, visited Bangladesh in March.
The United Kingdom (UK) has said new policies and legislation developed in Bangladesh this year have generated concerns about restrictions on civil society space and media freedoms.
The UK in its country case study update on Bangladesh which forms part or the 2013 Human Rights and Democracy Report, also said the risk of political violence in Bangladesh remains a concern.
While political violence related to protests has declined since Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections in January 2014, NGOs reported a spike in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the months following the election, said the report.
It said, Bangladesh’s 10th parliamentary elections on January 5, 2014 were not contested by the former opposition 18-Party Alliance, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),
due to concerns that free and fair elections could not be held in the absence of a neutral caretaker government.
With over half the parliamentary seats uncontested, Awami League won a second successive term, the report mentioned.
Twenty-one deaths were reported on polling day and over 100 school-based polling centres burnt down. Since the election, BNP has committed to peaceful protest, and there have been significantly fewer enforced general strikes and transport blockades than in 2013, the report said.
In a statement on January 6, the then Minister for Human Rights, Baroness Warsi, urged all of Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to address political accountability.
She deplored the acts of intimidation and unlawful violence from all parties, and called on all Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to strengthen democratic accountability and to build a willingness and capacity to hold future participatory elections without the fear of intimidation or reprisals.
On January 22, the UK’s High Commissioner in Bangladesh condemned the violence in his meetings with the Bangladesh Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the Minister of Communications, and the Minister of Commerce.
All the main political parties fielded candidates in local sub-district (Upazila) elections in March.
After trailing the BNP in the first two rounds, the Awami League won most seats in the final three rounds.
This was accompanied by a significant increase in NGO and media reports of intimidation and interference in the electoral process.
Baroness Warsi discussed the matter with the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK on May 13.
She called on the Bangladesh Election Commission to mount a full and transparent investigation into the reports and to take appropriate action.
The then Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Alan Duncan, visited Bangladesh in March.
