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Amnesty International 2010 Report. Chapter on Bangladesh

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In twenty one earlier articles, I republished the preliminary parts and 15 Africa-focused chapters of the 2010 Annual Report which was released a few days ago by the leading humanitarian NGO Amnesty International. Titles of and links to these articles are available in the latest of the series:

Amnesty International 2010 Report. Chapter on Nigeria
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160659)

Continuing the selected republication of chapters, I focused on overviews and chapters portraits of Asiatic countries, starting with the following:

Saudi Arabia, a Hell on Earth to End, Not a Partner to the West. Amnesty International 2010 Report
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160816)

Amnesty International 2010 Report. Europe and Central Asia –Regional Overview
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160842)

Amnesty International 2010 Report. Asia Pacific – Regional Overview
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160850)

Syria. Pan-Arabist Tyranny, Hell for Aramaeans, Sunnis, Kurmanjis. Amnesty International Report 2010
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160867)

Jordan. A Pseudo-monarchy Geared to Host Victims of Israel’s Fabrication. Amnesty Int’l Report
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160872)

AI 2010 Report. Biased Chapter on Iraq, Oblivious of Turkmen, Aramaeans, Shabak, Failis, Ahl-e Haq
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160901)

Oppressed South Azeris, Aramaeans, Baluch, Loris, Turkmen, Qashqai to Secede from Iran. AI Report
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160915)

Baluchistan in Uprising Demands Freedom, Secession from Pakistan. Amnesty International 2010 Report
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160974)

Amnesty International 2010 Report. Chapter on India
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/160975)

In forthcoming articles, I will republish further Asia-focused chapters of the Report, highlighting omissions, oversights and cases of unbalanced presentation. In the present article, I republish the chapter on Bangladesh.

People’s Republic of Bangladesh – Profile
Head of state: Zillur Rahman (replaced Iajuddin Ahmed in
February)
Head of government: Sheikh Hasina (replaced Fakhruddin
Ahmed in January)
Death penalty: retentionist
Population: 162.2 million
Life expectancy: 65.7 years
Under-5 mortality (m/f): 58/56 per 1,000
Adult literacy: 53.5 per cent

At least 74 people including civilians and army officers were killed during a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny in February. After the mutiny, over 3,000 BDR personnel were detained, at least 48 of whom died in custody. Police and security forces were implicated in the alleged extrajudicial executions of up to 70 criminal suspects. At least 6 people were sentenced to death and at least three were executed. Women continued to be victims of acid attacks, rape, beatings and other attacks, with little preventive action from the authorities.

Background

The Awami League government took office in January, ending two years of an army-backed state of emergency under a civilian caretaker government. The new government endorsed some institutional reforms which the caretaker government had initiated under temporary legislation. These included the Human Rights Commission Act which Parliament enacted in July. The government also set up the Information Commission in July after Parliament passed the Right to Information Act in March.

Repression of dissent

Police continued to use unnecessary and excessive force against protesters. In September, dozens of police attacked peaceful protesters with batons in Dhaka at a rally organized by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports. At least 20 protesters, including one of their leaders, Professor Anu Mohammed, were injured. Some 1,000 protesters were calling for greater transparency in the government’s decision to award contracts to international oil companies. There was no independent investigation of the attack.

BDR rebellion – torture and fear of unfair trials

Members of the BDR launched a large-scale mutiny in February at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka. Mutineers killed at least 74 people, including six civilians, 57 army officers, one army soldier, nine jawans (lowest BDR rank), and one as yet unidentified person. Thousands of BDR personnel were subsequently confined to barracks and denied all outside contact. Reports soon emerged that scores – possibly hundreds – of BDR personnel suffered human rights violations, including torture, for possible involvement in the mutiny. At least 20 BDR personnel died in custody between March and May alone. BDR officials claimed that four men committed suicide, and 16 died from natural causes. By 10 October, the total number of BDR personnel who died in custody was 48. There were allegations that torture may have been the cause or a contributing factor in some of these deaths. An official committee set up in May to investigate the deaths had not submitted its report by year’s end.

An official investigation into the circumstances of the mutiny failed to establish its causes. Another investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department of the police to identify charges against more than 3,000 BDR personnel awaiting trial had not submitted its report by year’s end. The government confirmed in September that trials for killings, hostage-taking and looting would take place in civilian courts. It was not clear what resources, particularly in terms of additional training for judges, were available to courts to provide fair trials to such an unprecedented number of defendants.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights

The government began in August to disband major army camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to meet one of several unimplemented agreements of the 1997 CHT peace accord. The accord, signed by the government and CHT representatives, recognized the rights of Indigenous Peoples living in the area and ended more than two decades of insurgency. The government took no action to resolve other unimplemented agreements, including a dispute over land ownership which Indigenous Peoples allege the army confiscated from them during the insurgency and gave to non-Indigenous Bangladeshis whom the government encouraged to settle there.

Extrajudicial executions

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged in February and October that the government would end extrajudicial executions. However, up to 70 people reportedly died in “crossfire” in the first nine months of the year. Police authorities usually characterized suspected extrajudicial executions as deaths from “crossfire” or after a “shoot-out”.

Family members of Mohsin Sheikh, aged 23, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, aged 22, two Awami League student leaders, alleged that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel shot the two men dead in Dhaka in May. The RAB claimed that the men disregarded a warning to stop at a checkpoint. It said that in the “gunfight” that followed, the men were shot dead. An autopsy of the bodies showed that none of the bullets fired by RAB officers had gone astray, which suggested that this was a planned killing and not a “gunfight”.

Police subsequently opened criminal investigations against 10 RAB personnel, but no one was brought to justice.

Violence against women

Newspapers reported at least 21 cases where a husband had killed his wife because her family could not afford to give him dowry money. Police sources said they had received at least 3,413 complaints of beating and other abuse of women over dowry disputes between January and October. In many of the known cases, prosecution led to conviction, but the authorities failed to develop, fund and implement an action programme to actively prevent violence against women. Women’s rights groups said many cases of violence against women, such as the alleged rape of sex workers in police custody, were not reported for fear of reprisal and lack of protection.

In October, Smrity Begum died after she was allegedly forced by her husband to swallow poison. He had demanded a motorbike from Smrity Begum’s family as her dowry, which they could not afford. Police charged the husband with murder.

Legal, constitutional or institutional developments

The Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs announced in August that a tribunal would be set up to hear cases of people accused of human rights abuses during the 1971 independence war, but no such tribunals were set up.

Death penalty

Five men found guilty of killing then President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 had their death sentences upheld by the Supreme Court in November. At least 64 people were sentenced to death and at least three were executed.

Amnesty International visits/reports

Amnesty International delegates visited Bangladesh in April and May.

Looking for justice: Mutineers on trial in Bangladesh (ASA 13 / 006 / 2009)

Bangladesh: Appeals for commutation of death sentences (ASA 13 / 007 / 2009)

Note
Picture: Bangladesh

http://www.gdi-solutions.com/areas/maps/region/map_india_northeast.gif

Tags: 2010, Amnesty, Bangladesh, Chapter, International, Report

Maternal Health in Bangladesh

Poor maternal health and poverty are directly interrelated. Bangladesh being one of the poor countries in the world has worse maternal mortality rate in South Asia. It has been estimated that every year 21,000 women die during pregnancy or while giving birth to a child. Most of these deaths occur due to hemorrhage, anemia, hypertension and obstructed labor. Absence of medication for pregnant woman and delay in receiving the appropriate mode of transportation is also a major contributing factor to poor maternal health.In countries like Bangladesh, 68.7% of the women give birth without the assistance of trained birth attendants. Instead relatives or traditional midwives, who are often not capable of handling complications during the delivery serve as birth assistants. Factors that prevent women in getting the health care they need include distance from health services, cost (direct fees as well as the cost of transportation, drugs, and supplies), multiple demands on their time, and woman’s lack of decision-making power within the family. The poor quality of services, including poor treatment by health providers, also makes some women reluctant to use services.

One of the major reasons for poor maternal health is the lack of skilled birth attendants which accounts for just 13% of all deliveries in Bangladesh. Another major reason for the poor is the fact that female children are not adequately nourished since their birth and generally conceive early in life. The resultant poor health and low birth weight has been carrying on for centuries.

The biggest challenge for the government and nongovernmental organizations is how to improve maternal health condition of women in Bangladesh. The high levels of illiteracy among women acts as a major roadblock in all developmental projects. Some of the required steps needed in to improve this issue in Bangladesh are:

1. Educating women folk in all stages of pregnancy right from early days of conceiving to proper delivery of the child. They need to be educated on the basic precautions to be taken during pregnancy.

2. Most of the pregnant women in Bangladesh are under nourished which severely affects the child and contributes to the high mortality rate. Pregnant woman and her family need to be aware about the necessary levels of nutrition.

3. Improve the body mass index of the women who are expecting by making them aware of it. The body mass index of majority of the pregnant woman in Bangladesh are lower than the minimum required which leads to complications in pregnancy.

4. Poor maternal health is also a result of socioeconomic condition of the women in the country. Making people aware of the harm of teenage pregnancy which can prove to be fatal both for the child as well as the mother.

5.Encouraging people to maintain gap between their children. Frequent pregnancy among women in Bangladesh has been one of the primary reasons for the poor state health of the mother.

A mother’s health profoundly affects the health and well-being of her children. While maternal mortality remains unacceptably high throughout Bangladesh. By creating a support system within various communities be it in villages or certain pockets of the urban areas can improve the maternal health. This could be aimed at making the entire community take steps towards the improvement of maternal health.

These campaigns run by certain organizations has yielded substantial results in the places where the campaign has been carried out.

Tags: Bangladesh, Health, Maternal