A damning report by the United Nations Human Rights Office on Wednesday (12 February) has unveiled systematic human rights violations committed by the ousted Awami League government, its security and intelligence apparatus, and violent factions aligned with the Awami League during last year’s student-led protests.
Drawing upon testimonies from senior officials and corroborating evidence, the report uncovers an official policy of violent repression targeting anti-government demonstrators and sympathisers.
The findings raise grave concerns of crimes against humanity, warranting urgent and thorough criminal investigations.
Credible sources estimate that between 1 July and 15 August, approximately 1,400 individuals were killed, with thousands more injured, the majority suffering gunshot wounds inflicted by state security forces.
Disturbingly, the report indicates that 12-13% of the fatalities were children.
Police reported the deaths of 44 officers during the unrest.
While the protests were initially sparked by the High Court's decision to reinstate a controversial quota system in public service recruitment, they were fuelled by broader discontent over entrenched corruption, destructive politics, and deepening economic inequalities.
The report asserts that the former government pursued a systematic campaign of suppression, deploying increasingly violent tactics to maintain its grip on power.
“The brutal response was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former government to cling to power amidst mass opposition,” stated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that hundreds of extrajudicial killings, widespread arbitrary arrests and detentions, and acts of torture were executed with the knowledge, coordination, and directive of political leaders and senior security officials.”
Türk added, “The evidence we have gathered paints a harrowing picture of rampant state violence and targeted killings, some of the gravest human rights violations that may also constitute international crimes. Accountability and justice are imperative for national reconciliation and the future of Bangladesh.”
At the behest of the Chief Adviser Mohammed Yunus, the UN dispatched a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh in September, comprising human rights investigators, a forensic physician, and a weapons expert. The interim government cooperated extensively, granting full access and providing substantial documentation.
The report implicates former senior officials in orchestrating large-scale operations against protesters, with security forces executing orders to shoot, detain arbitrarily, and torture demonstrators. Patterns of deliberate killings and maiming were identified, including instances of individuals being shot at point-blank range.
One emblematic case is that of Abu Sayed, captured on video defiantly shouting “shoot me” with outstretched arms during a protest at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur. Through meticulous analysis of footage, images, and geolocation data, investigators reconstructed the events leading to his death. Forensic findings confirmed he was shot at least twice with metal pellet-loaded shotguns from a distance of roughly 14 metres, supporting allegations of deliberate extrajudicial execution by police.
Women, particularly protest leaders, faced arbitrary detention, torture, and gender-based violence, including physical assaults and threats of sexual violence, aimed at deterring their participation. The report details instances where security forces and Awami League supporters targeted women with impunity.
Children were not spared; the report documents cases where minors were killed, maimed, or subjected to arbitrary arrest, inhumane detention conditions, and torture. In a harrowing incident, a 12-year-old protester in Dhanmondi succumbed to internal injuries caused by approximately 200 metal pellets. Another tragic case involved a six-year-old girl fatally shot in the head while observing clashes from her rooftop in Narayanganj.
On 5 August, one of the bloodiest days of the protests, a 12-year-old boy wounded by police gunfire in Azampur recounted how officers were “firing everywhere like rainfall,” describing scenes strewn with corpses.
The report also highlights the obstruction of medical care for injured protesters, with security forces interrogating patients, collecting fingerprints in hospitals, intimidating medical personnel, and seizing CCTV footage to identify demonstrators and conceal evidence of state-perpetrated violence.
As the former government’s control waned, retaliatory attacks surged against Awami League affiliates, police, and media personnel. Religious minorities, including Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and indigenous communities from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, also suffered targeted abuses. Although around 100 arrests were made concerning these attacks, many perpetrators remain at large, shielded by a culture of impunity.
The report outlines comprehensive recommendations to reform Bangladesh’s security and justice sectors, dismantle repressive laws, and instigate broader political and economic reforms.
“The best path forward for Bangladesh is to confront the atrocities of this dark chapter through a comprehensive process of truth-telling, justice, and national healing,” Türk emphasised. “My office stands ready to support Bangladesh in its pursuit of accountability and reform.”
