Foreword

Odhikar has been monitoring the human rights situation in Bangladesh in order to promote and protect civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of Bangladeshi citizens and to report on violations and defend the victims since 1994. Odhikar does not believe that the human rights movement merely endeavours to protect the „individual‟ from violations perpetrated by the state; rather, it believes that the movement to establish the rights and dignity of every individual is part of the struggle to constitute Bangladesh as a democratic state. Odhikar has always been consistent in creating mass awareness of human rights issues using several means, including reporting violations perpetrated by the State and advocacy and campaign to ensure internationally recognised civil and political rights of citizens. The Organisation unconditionally stands by the victims of oppression and maintains no prejudice with regard to political leanings or ideological orientation, race, religion or sex. Odhikar has been facing extreme repression and harassment by the incumbent government while working on human rights since 2013. Despite facing persecution, harassment and threats to its existence, the Organisation has prepared monthly human rights monitoring reports based on information gathered by grassroots human rights defenders associated with Odhikar and also collected from the national dailies. This report is a brief analysis of the Odhikar‟s monthly reports published in the first six months of 2018. Although many incidents of human rights violations occur every month, only a few significant incidents have been highlighted in this report.

Read More