OHCHR recommends to disband RAB, ensure Justice, cease death penalty

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has urged Bangladesh to undertake urgent and sweeping reforms to address human rights violations during the movement in July and August last year.

An OHCHR fact-finding mission documented serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and mass arrests, in response to the 2024 quota reform and subsequent anti-government protests.

In a comprehensive set of recommendations in its final report, the mission  called on the government to ensure justice for victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and overhaul its security and judicial institutions to prevent future human rights violations. 

The OHCHR recommended that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) be disbanded and personnel not involved in serious violations be returned to their home units. It suggested confining the functions of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to border control issues and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) to military intelligence and limiting and delineating their resources and legal powers accordingly. 

Besides, it recommended demilitarising control over the Ansar/VDP to the extent that they assume law enforcement support tasks.

The OHCHR urged the government to issue binding directives prohibiting the use of firearms loaded with metal shot or other lethal ammunition to disperse crowds and permit their use only where necessary to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury.  

It suggested not equipping police and other security forces with metal shot ammunition for shotguns as a tool of public order management and limiting the issuance of armour-piercing ammunition to military and paramilitary forces.

It also suggested that the authorities issue and enforce binding orders to the police to cease practices of mass charges and mass arrests, in particular where based on unsubstantiated and overly broad suspect lists. 

In respect to treatment at custodies, the authorities have been urged to issue and enforce binding orders to ensure full implementation of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Act, establish an independent torture prevention and detention monitoring programme and consider acceding to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. 

Other suggestions include reforming police investigation techniques, adjusting rules with international human rights standards, adopting a fair transparent and merit-based police recruitment, promotions, transfer and removal process, and reforming the accountability and justice mechanisms for abuses by state forces. 

The UN human rights office called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Bangladesh, including its use in the International Crimes Tribunal, while urging the government to consider its complete abolition and accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR.

It also stressed the need to support the National Commission on Enforced Disappearances, publish its findings as well as recommendations, and shut down all secret detention facilities operated by security forces. It called for the prosecution of those responsible for enforced disappearances, torture, and related crimes.

The UN human rights office urged authorities to ensure fair, impartial, and comprehensive investigations into extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and sexual and gender-based violence, including past cases and those linked to revenge attacks. 

It emphasised the need for accountability, even for individuals in command positions, and called for effective remedies and reparations for victims. Authorities must urgently preserve evidence, prevent its destruction, and implement disciplinary and criminal measures against those seeking to destroy or hide evidence and attempting to obstruct justice.

The OHCHR stressed the importance of protecting victims and witnesses, calling for an independent protection programme separate from existing security forces. It also recommended issuing binding directives to authorise investigations and prosecutions of public officials while reforming laws to ensure crimes involving serious human rights violations are tried in civilian courts, even if committed by military personnel. 

It called to suspend officials facing credible allegations of serious human rights violations, including at the command and leadership level, pending completion of full, independent, and impartial investigation and, as appropriate, prosecution.

The OHCHR has called for a nationwide dialogue to develop a transitional justice model that ensures accountability for serious human rights violations while promoting social cohesion and national healing. It also urged the mobilization of resources for a victim-centered reparation process to provide compensation, medical treatment, and other support transparently.

The OHCHR recommended establishing an independent public prosecution service with professional, full-time personnel free from political bias or interference. It also stressed the need to protect the judiciary’s independence as well as impartiality by ensuring judges are appointed, disciplined, and removed through an impartial mechanism, while safeguarding them from political influence and intimidation.

It called for necessary funding and staffing in the justice sector to strengthen oversight of law enforcement operations, including arrests, searches, and surveillance, while ensuring institutional protection from political interference.