August 29, 2024

Press Release 

Message of Mr. Tarique Rahman, Acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party - BNP on the Occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Message 

"Enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. Like millions of our fellow citizens, I am deeply concerned about the unprecedented incidents of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh. This tactic is used as a tool of state oppression. Under Sheikh Hasina's misrule, enforced disappearance has been utilized to create a climate of fear in society. Credible human rights organizations have collectively reported that since January 2009, over seven hundred individuals have been subjected to enforced disappearances by Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies. It is deeply distressing that not a single incident has been brought to justice till today.

These disappeared individuals were beloved members of their families. Their dreams, love, and bright futures have been cruelly snatched away. We do not know where these missing people are, but they have left behind a heart-wrenching and sorrowful Bangladesh, where our hard-earned human rights and values have been plundered. Enforced disappearance is recognized as an international crime. Article 7(2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) defines enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity, emphasizing the necessity of justice for this grave violation of human rights. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we commemorate those who have been forcibly disappeared, transcending political ideologies, national boundaries, languages, ethnicities, cultures, and races, and express our solidarity with their families. I call for global unity and solidarity in the pursuit of justice and accountability against those individuals and institutions involved in this inhumane crime.

On behalf of my party, I pledge that if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party - BNP is elected by the people's vote to form the government, we will, Inshallah, enact the necessary laws in accordance with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPED) adopted by the United Nations, to ensure that no individual in Bangladesh will ever be subjected to enforced disappearance again. Justice must be served for this heinous crime against humanity."

(Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi)

Senior Joint Secretary General  

Bangladesh Nationalist Party - BNP