Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Bangladesh is not always high on the agenda of the international human community, so it is interesting to read the preliminary findings of the report below:

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture OMCT, expresses concerns about the restrictive environment for human rights defenders in Bangladesh, after it completed a fact-finding mission in the country on November 22, 2012.

“With the existing polarised political context and increasing tensions ahead of the upcoming 2013 general elections, human rights defenders are put at further risk of human rights violations”, the mission concludes. “While laws have become a tool used by the State to hinder the work of and suppress dissident voices through judicial harassment, a lack of proper judicial safeguards and remedies has allowed for the culture of impunity to continue”.

via Bangladesh: Restrictive environment for human rights defenders ahead of the 2013 elections – Preliminary findings of a fact-finding mission / December 7, 2012 / Urgent Interventions / Human rights defenders / OMCT.

This entry was posted on December 7, 2012 at 19:20 and is filed under Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: Bangladesh, dissidents, elections, FIDH, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harassment, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT