Bangladesh’s local government elections held in 2016 with opposition participation were “tainted by violence and electoral irregularities”, the Council of European Union has observed, expressing concern at the restrictive actions against the opposition.

In its review of Bangladesh’s rights situation, the council mentioned that opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is out of parliament, has “practically no, or very limited, influence on the political process”.

The EU’s areas of concern include a volatile security situation, shrinking democratic space and continuous deterioration of civil and political rights, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance.

In such a context, the EU encouraged Bangladesh in forming an independent, impartial and non-partisan election commission to “hold the next legislative elections in a free, fair and participatory way”.

Referring to deterioration in security situation in 2016, the EU review report released on Monday said the rule of law and law enforcement is undermined by the failure of authorities to arrest and punish the perpetrators, contributing to the general culture of impunity.

The EU regretted that despite formal separation from the executive, the judiciary has not met people’s expectation of a truly independent institution, and access to justice is seriously limited due to the chronic problems of the justice system.

The EU’s priorities in human rights and democracy remain judicial reform, rights of persons belonging to minorities, human rights defenders, women and children’s rights, support for the civil society and implementation of labour rights.

The review report pointed out that the EU regularly called on Bangladesh to make progress on the issues of human rights and democracy at all meetings with Bangladeshi partners, particularly at the biennial meeting of the sub-group on good governance and human rights, held in Brussels in December 2016.

The EU voiced further concerns about extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the death penalty, freedom of association and freedom of expression, and in general about the shrinking space for civil society.



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