Bangladesh Campaign Team

Bangladesh is at a turning point in its history as it deals with an increase in crime and political unrest after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a student-led movement. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown in July 2024 as a result of widespread protests sparked by decades of systemic corruption, socioeconomic inequality, and an intense distrust of current law enforcement. Public outrage over a contentious public sector employment quota served as the starting point for the movement, which quickly expanded to include demands for extensive democratic reforms and accountability for widespread violations of human rights. Public dissatisfaction was heightened by the ruthless crackdown that followed under Hasina’s rule, which resulted in the detention of thousands of activists, journalists, and political dissidents.

Genocide is marked by such unimaginable horror and devastation that, for some, it raises the question: why remember it at all? The answer is multifaceted. We remember it because doing so is important to recognising the truth of what has happened, and recognition is how we show empathy to others, secure justice for victims, preserve historical truth, prevent future atrocities, and uphold the rule of law.

Bangladesh is currently undergoing a political and societal transformation. The country was formed in 1971 after a brutal genocide launched by the Pakistani military. The genocide that began on March 25th, 1971, resulted in the deaths of between 300,000 and three million people (Zakaria, 2019). Women and girls were also victims of violence and sexual assault with some experts estimating that between 200,000 and 400,000 were raped during the genocide (Begum, 2023). Similar to the partition of India, sexual violence was used as a military tactic. The stories of these women and girls remain largely unknown due to the stigma regarding sexual violence. Furthermore, the lack of recognition of the genocide allows for impunity of these crimes to continue. The effects of the genocide are still felt today in Bangladesh, made evident by the recent protests that gripped the country.

They attack culturally significant properties as they believe that their enemies are culturally superior or inferior. With the destruction of cultural property, they wish to establish and exhibit unilateral political authority over “the others” by destroying their rich cultural heritage. (Rahim, 2018) An estimated 1.5 to three million people were killed between March 26th and December 16th, 1971 in occupied Bangladesh (Beachler, 2007). The loss of human life, the targeting of intellectuals, the suppression of Bengali identity, and the displacement of populations profoundly damaged the cultural heritage of Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War (Nishant & Hossain, 2022).

Since Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, the country has witnessed a continuous struggle between democratic aspirations and autocratic resurgence. This tension reached a critical point during the 2024 national elections, marking one of the most controversial political transitions in the country’s history. After 15 years of leadership, the world’s longest-serving female prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled to India in self-imposed exile following months of protests. Her premiership, characterised by widespread repression of dissent, accusations of electoral fraud, silencing critics and systematic violations of civil liberties, catalysed national unrest, which ended with the “July Revolution”. The power vacuum created by this transitional period and the absence of a functioning law enforcement system exposed minorities, particularly Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and the indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to widespread attacks and human rights violations (OHCHR, 2025, p. 3).

While an interim government led by the Nobel Laureate Dr Yunus was formed, attacks on minorities took place since the day of Hasina’s fleeing. These attacks include
political as well as religious extremist agendas. Although the interim government tried to control the situation, urging everyone to maintain harmony, the four-month ruling of this government has witnessed at least two big incidents in the country concerning minority rights protection. Among them, one is surrounding the indigenous minority living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, often a victim of military intervention coupled with Bengali settlers, and the other one is centring the Hindu religious minority following the arrest of one of their religious leaders on sedition charges. This report will highlight all three major events that demonstrated human rights violations.

Sexual violence has emerged as one of the most horrific atrocities during conflicts around the world. Despite being explicitly prohibited by international human rights, humanitarian, and criminal law, it continues to be used as a weapon of war, underscoring its devastating impact across history. It is not only used as an act of terror and a form of reward during wartime but also a strategy to move opponents off the land and shame them. It serves not only as an instrument of terror and control but also as a means to displace populations and inflict deep psychological and social harm on communities. During the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the Pakistani Army systematically raped and sexually abused Bengali women as part of a broader strategy of subjugation.

This report will address the historical context, and long-term consequences of the wartime crimes that have impacted Bangladesh’s family dynamics, social norms, and gender relations. Furthermore, it will examine the international legal framework, particularly human rights laws, and how it has evolved to recognise rape as a war crime, including remedies and support systems for sexual violence survivors in Bangladesh (EFSAS, 2021).

The twentieth century, often referred to as “the bloodiest century in human history” (Forsythe, 1997; Akmam, 2002, p. 543), is also regarded by scholars as “an age of genocide” (Chalk & Jonassohn, 1990, as cited in Akmam, 2002, p. 543). However, despite their undeniable occurrence, many genocides are yet to be recognised. Since its formal adoption in 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has officially recognised only three genocides: the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the Bosnian genocide of 1995, and the Cambodian genocide between 1975 and 1979.