Following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in 2024, Bangladesh entered a transitional phase under an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus. While the new authorities pledged to restore democratic norms, strengthen accountability, and reform institutions weakened during Hasina’s 15-year rule, progress has been uneven. General elections are scheduled for February 2026, but the country continues to face serious human rights challenges.
Governance and Security
The interim government struggled to establish effective control over law and order or to fully implement promised human rights reforms. Although some of the most extreme abuses associated with the previous government—such as widespread enforced disappearances—appeared to decline, repression did not end.
Authorities arbitrarily detained large numbers of individuals perceived to be political opponents, and in May 2025 formally banned the Awami League. On November 17, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity linked to the violent suppression of protests in 2024.
At the same time, Bangladesh experienced a sharp increase in mob violence, involving political groups and non-state actors, including religious extremists hostile to women’s rights and to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. According to the human rights organization Ain O Salish Kendra, at least 124 people were killed in mob attacks between June and August 2025 alone.
Accountability for Past Abuses
In February 2025, a United Nations investigation concluded that police, border guards, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and intelligence agencies committed grave violations during the 2024 protests, resulting in approximately 1,400 deaths. Despite these findings, accountability efforts remained limited. By July, police officials acknowledged that only 60 officers had been arrested in connection with protest-related abuses.
The interim government chose to prosecute alleged crimes committed during the Awami League era through the International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic court originally created to address atrocities from Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. In November, the ICT sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death following trials conducted in absentia. A former police chief who testified for the prosecution was later sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
While the government introduced amendments to the ICT law aimed at improving procedures, the tribunal continued to fall short of international fair trial standards and retained the death penalty, contrary to international human rights norms. The tribunal was also granted expanded authority to prosecute and dismantle political organizations, raising concerns over due process and political misuse.
Separately, the interim government established a commission to investigate allegations of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the Awami League’s rule. By August 2025, the commission had received more than 1,850 complaints. Commissioners reported that security force members obstructed investigations by destroying evidence and refusing cooperation. In October, prosecutors filed charges against 28 individuals linked to enforced disappearances.
Reform Efforts and Political Deadlock
Years of authoritarian governance had weakened key institutions, including the judiciary, police, and electoral system. After assuming office, the interim government created multiple reform commissions addressing areas such as judicial independence, electoral reform, women’s rights, labor rights, policing, and constitutional governance.
A Consensus Commission, chaired by Yunus, was tasked with consolidating these proposals. However, political divisions and lack of agreement among stakeholders stalled implementation. Few reforms were enacted.
On August 5, Yunus announced the July Declaration, followed by a more detailed July Charter in October. In November, he proposed holding a referendum on constitutional reforms alongside the general election, a move that would bind the next government to implementing selected provisions of the Charter. The proposal has sparked significant legal and constitutional controversy.
Arbitrary Detentions and Deaths in Custody
Politically motivated detentions—a hallmark of the Awami League era—continued under the interim administration. Law enforcement authorities regularly filed criminal complaints listing hundreds of unnamed suspects. Hundreds of Awami League leaders, activists, and supporters were detained as murder suspects without trial and routinely denied bail. Those arrested included lawyers, artists, performers, and civil society figures.
Following clashes between Awami League supporters and student demonstrators on February 8, authorities launched “Operation Devil Hunt,” resulting in at least 8,600 arrests. Additional detentions were reported under the Special Powers Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act—laws long criticized for facilitating abuse.
On July 16, violence involving security forces and supporters of the banned Awami League in Gopalganj left five people dead after a rally organized by the student-led National Citizen Party. Police subsequently detained hundreds and filed 10 murder cases naming more than 8,400 individuals, most of them unidentified. Authorities denied conducting mass arrests.
According to the human rights organization Odhikar, at least 40 people were killed by law enforcement after the interim government took office, including 14 deaths allegedly resulting from torture. Political violence injured nearly 8,000 people and killed at least 81 others.
Women’s and Girls’ Rights
Sexual and gender-based violence remained widespread, with limited access to justice for survivors. Although women played a prominent role in the 2024 uprising, they were underrepresented in the interim government.
In April, a government-appointed commission recommended reforms including criminalizing marital rape, ensuring equal parental rights, reforming inheritance laws, and increasing women’s representation in parliament. These proposals triggered backlash from conservative groups. In response, nearly 20,000 supporters of the Islamist organization Hefazat-e-Islam rallied in Dhaka to oppose the reforms.
Rohingya Refugees
Since early 2024, more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar amid renewed fighting and abuses. Authorities continued to press for repatriation of over one million Rohingya refugees, despite the absence of conditions for safe, voluntary, and dignified returns.
Rohingya refugees in camps faced escalating violence from armed groups and criminal networks, including sexual abuse, forced recruitment, extortion, and abductions. Access to protection, healthcare, and legal assistance remained extremely limited.
Cuts to international aid and the arrival of new refugees forced closures of health clinics and early education programs, while food and fuel assistance was reduced. Humanitarian agencies warned of rising malnutrition, disease outbreaks, trafficking, and gang violence.
Attacks on Minorities
In July, mobs attacked Hindu households in Rangpur district, damaging at least 14 homes. Minority communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts also continued to face abuses, including sexual violence.
Economic and Social Rights
The 2024 uprising was fueled by economic inequality and youth unemployment. In 2024, unemployment among people aged 15–24 exceeded 30 percent, with women disproportionately affected. Inflation eased but remained high, worsening living costs for low-income households.
The World Bank projected slower economic growth in 2025, warning that extreme poverty could rise to 9.3 percent, pushing an additional three million people into poverty.
The garment industry—employing millions, mostly women—remained the backbone of the economy. While a September agreement between employers and the government promised improved wages and benefits for some workers, nearly 90 percent of informal-sector workers would remain excluded. In January, a garment worker was beaten to death inside a factory, allegedly by senior staff.
Freedom of Expression and Association
In May, authorities imposed a “temporary” ban on the Awami League using new powers under the amended Anti-Terrorism Act, prohibiting meetings, publications, and online expression linked to the party.
Journalists faced frequent attacks in 2025, often by political actors or mobs. Police and courts also pursued cases against writers accused of “hurting religious sentiment.”
Although the interim government amended the Cyber Security Act (CSA) in March to remove several abusive provisions, the law continues to allow excessive restrictions on free expression and fails to fully meet international standards.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Consensual same-sex relations remain criminalized, with penalties ranging from 10 years’ imprisonment to life sentences. There are no legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT people and advocates reported increased threats, harassment, and hate speech, including from political figures.
Attribution and Credit
This article is an original rewrite based on publicly available human rights reporting, including analysis by Human Rights Watch and other international and Bangladeshi rights organizations.
All underlying factual findings and themes are credited to the original human rights documentation.