Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-09-18-Speech-4-112-000"
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"en.20140918.12.4-112-000"2
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"Madam President, during the many visits this Parliament made to Bangladesh in the previous parliamentary term, we experienced a very vibrant and very diverse media, and we met with many NGOs working on a variety of important issues from women’s rights – where Bangladesh is making progress – to poverty reduction, human rights and torture allegations. They have helped the government make significant progress on the Millennium Development Goals and we want that to continue to be the state of affairs.
That is why we are concerned at particular legislative changes which we feel put that dynamism at risk. This is an issue that we raised when we were there earlier this year. We are not yet clear about how these changes, and particularly the NGO changes, will affect donor engagement. The EU is, of course, a significant part of that, so I would hope to hear something from the Commission about it. We all know that politicians, whatever their party, find a critical press and NGOs inconvenient, embarrassing and even threatening at times, but they are an important element of a democratic society, especially when the formal political opposition is weak or non-existent.
We also raise the issue of the Rapid Action Battalion. We should welcome recent moves to indict a number of officers, but the number of those dying at the hands of the RAB has begun to rise again. We have seen 88 deaths in the last seven months and there is real concern about the lack of accountability. We want to see the government operate its zero-tolerance policy against human rights abuses by law enforcement agencies and we welcome the training put in place with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
We need a strong and independent judiciary and a civil society and active parliament to make sure that the measures take effect. Others have referred to the death penalty. There is widespread public and political support in Bangladesh for this, so we welcome the government’s acceptance of the Supreme Court’s commutation of the death sentence of Mr Sayedee under charges under the International Crimes Tribunal. For those who are concerned about the issues around trade union rights and decent pay – and quite rightly concerned – there are major issues there. I would also pick up on what a previous speaker has said that we need to make sure that the international community is paying what it owes to make sure that changes can really be made and take effect."@en1
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