INTRODUCTION
Amnesty International has prepared this submission for the UN Universal Periodic Review of Bangladesh in April 2013. Among the current human rights issues in Bangladesh, which the submission highlights, are torture and other ill-treatment by security agencies. A climate of impunity shields perpetrators from justice.
Amnesty International also highlights the failure by the authorities to prevent Bengali settlers from confiscating land from Indigenous Peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, with the apparent acquiescence of the army and other law enforcement agencies.
The death penalty also remains a problem in Bangladesh, with over 1,000 people reportedly held on death row.
At least 10 people went missing in Bangladesh in 2012. In most cases the victims have not been traced although there are reports of state involvement. In a few cases, the bodies of those missing have been found, some bearing marks of beatings.
Amnesty International also raises concerns about aspects of the war crimes trials before the International Crimes Tribunal (a Bangladeshi court set up in 2010), and about harassment of journalists.