Open Letter from community and civil society organisations calling on UN drug control agencies to condemn and take action against the war on drugs in Bangladesh

Open Letter from community and civil society organisations calling on UN drug control

agencies to condemn and take action against the war on drugs in Bangladesh

5th June 2018

To:Mr. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Dr. Viroj Sumyai, President, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)

CC.:Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organisation

We, the undersigned 188 NGOs, call on the UNODC and the INCB to strongly condemn the extrajudicial killings,

arbitrary arrests and detention, intimidation and violence perpetrated by law enforcement agencies in

Bangladesh in their drive to eliminate drugs from the country.

Over 130 people have been killed and more than 13,000 people arrested in Bangladesh since Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina launched a nationwide anti-drugs campaign in May 2018, aimed at eradicating the supply of

methamphetamine and other illicit drugs. Bangladeshi police have reported that the killings of suspected

“drug dealers” happened during “gunfights”with rival gangs or law enforcement officers acting in self-defense

during anti-drug operations.

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These operations have been carried out based upon lists o f suspects compiled

by law enforcement agencies and involve the use of “mobile courts” that have already resulted in the criminal

prosecution of over 7,000 people, thereby giving rise to serious doubts about adherence to due process.

2

Such

operations have been contested by the families of victims, civil society organisations, and the National Human

Rights Commission,

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who called upon law enforcement agencies to operate with transparency and

accountability, and for their officers to be subject to investigation by an independent judicial inquiry

commission in cases involving death, violence, arbitrary detention and other human rights abuses.

Health and harm reduction services for people who use drugs, including those which offer HIV prevention,

treatment and care and drug dependence treatment, are reportedly under threat of closure or already closed

down by law enforcement officers. In addition, it has been reported that outreach workers associated with

those services have been harassed by law enforcement operatives and some clients have disappeared. Far

from undertaking any measures towards implementing a comprehensive and balanced drug policy, including

1

5 June 2018, “4 ‘drug traders’ killed in ‘gunfights,’” The Daily Star, https://www.thedailystar.net/country/2-more-drug-traders-

killed-gunfights-1586686; 2 June 2018, “Jails crammed with 85,859 inmates,” New Age Bangladesh,

http://www.newagebd.net/article/42635/jails-crammed-with-85859-inmates; 31 May 2018, “U.S. voices concern over increasingly

deadly Bangladeshi anti-drug drive,” Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-drugs/u-s-voices-concern-over-

increasingly-deadly-bangladeshi-anti-drug-drive-idUSKCN1IW1IL

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1 June 2018, “Bangladesh accused of using drugs war to hide political assassinations,” The Telegraph,

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/01/bangladesh-drugs-war-used-hide-political-assassinations/

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1 June 2018, “’Murder’ it was,” The Daily Star, https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/murder-it-was-1584580; 1 June 2018, “TIB

demands judicial probe into ‘shootouts,’” The Daily Star, https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/tib-demands-judicial-probe-

shootouts-1584547; 29 May 2018, “BANGLADESH: Government escalates extrajudicial executions declaring ‘war on drugs,’” Written

Submission to the 38th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre,

http://alrc.asia/government-escalates-extrajudicial-executions-declaring-war-on-drugs/ ; 28 May 2018, ENSURE ACCOUNTABILITY:

What they think of ongoing drives,” The Daily Star, https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/what-they-think-1582501