THE crime of enforced disappearances may be considered a way to create terror in society when victims are picked up and never seen again and where victim families are left in a maelstrom of fear, uncertainty and, in many cases, economic crises.
According to An Vranckx, in her 2006 鈥楢 Long Road towards Universal Protection against Enforced Disappearance鈥�, modern history 鈥榓scribes the invention of enforced disappearance to Adolph Hitler. Whereas Stalin and dictators before him locked away nationals in far-off camps without much of a law, Hitler鈥檚 1941 Nacht und Nebel Erlass provided quite openly for deportation of inhabitants of territories occupied by the Reich believed to endanger German security. The Erlass, moreover, explicitly restricted information about the deported. The remains of those who were deported would only be found after the end of the Second World War in, and around, concentration camps.鈥�
Later on, some Latin American regimes used enforced disappearances to remove political opponents. This was also practised in Haiti, Brazil and Guatemala in the 1960s and in other countries in later decades, including Nepal, India and Pakistan and, as recently proved, Bangladesh as well as other countries across the world.
From knowledge, gleaned from investigation reports, newspapers and the electronic media in Bangladesh, a person is, according to witnesses, taken away by men either claiming to be police or from some other law enforcement agency and he is not seen again. The family rushes to the local police stations or police camps, where officers have no knowledge of the incident and deny any involvement. This adds to the confusion and panic suffered by the families.
According to Odhikar鈥檚 data, between January and August 2016, there were 61 reported cases of enforced disappearance, of which, it is alleged, 19 were committed by men claiming to be members of the Rapid Action Battalion and 14 by alleged members of the Detective Branch. Twenty of the arrests were made by men not in uniform, but claiming to be members of the law enforcement agencies.
According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, 553 people have been victims of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh between 2009 and 2019. Some of them have returned, some were rescued from the other side of the border and some were found dead. Given the years of misrule, impunity, corruption and violence perpetrated by the previous regime, data showed that in 2024, 20 cases of enforced disappearances were reported, all of which occurred between March and July. The inquiry commission set up by the interim government to investigate the cases of enforced disappearances found eight detention centres and received about 1,600 complaints.
Bangladeshis old enough to remember and experience the horrors of the war of liberation are not unfamiliar with enforced disappearances. During the war, many notable intellectuals were abducted and their whereabouts remained unknown till their bodies were found. After independence, the crime continues under various regimes.
Notable among the victims are film-maker Zahir Raihan, just after the independence of Bangladesh, radical leftist leader Siraj Sikdar in 1975 and Kalpana Chakma in 1996. However, there are many more cases, reported and unreported. There was a time when a person was arrested or picked up by people claiming to be from a law enforcement agency. The common fear was that he may be tortured or he may disappear. We hope this violation will never happen again.
This hope is bolstered by the interim government鈥檚 accession to the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Unfortunately, this human rights violation is yet to be criminalised in Bangladesh. Article 4 of the convention states: 鈥楨ach state party shall take the necessary measures to ensure that enforced disappearance constitutes an offence under its criminal law.鈥� Article 3 obliges member-states to take measures to investigate acts of enforced disappearances, committed by persons or groups of persons acting without the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state and to bring those responsible to justice.
So it does not matter who perpetrated the crime of enforced disappearances,听 it is the state鈥檚 responsibility to investigate and bring to justice all perpetrators. Clause 2 of Article 6 also states that no order or instruction from any public authority, civilian, military or other, may be invoked to justify an offence of enforced disappearances.
The number of persons reportedly disappeared between 2009 and July 2024 is mind-boggling. One can only imagine the number of families and dependants left without financial support and the sheer extent of the emotional impact the disappearance has on them. A majority of these victims of enforced disappearances left behind or have family 鈥� wives, mothers, children 鈥� most of whom depended on them financially. We must not forget the other victims of enforced disappearance 鈥� families of those who have disappeared.
In many cases, the disappeared is the sole earning member of a family that is left in economic crisis. Furthermore, there were reports that families were threatened by perpetrators or their 鈥榬epresentatives鈥� not to talk about the matter, not to report the crime, to stop criminal proceedings or even to pay large sums of money in order to get information. As a result, one crime of enforced disappearances may give birth to several other crimes, keeping the victim families in a state of perpetual fear.
In Bangladesh, women, in general, have never had an easy life. Faced with domestic violence, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, rape, acid violence, child marriage, dowry violence, stalking, poor pay, health hazards, early motherhood, violent employers, stunted education and a host of other issues, how can life be secure? However, there is one particular group of resilient women that I think has not been given the attention that it should get for the daily fight of its members. These women have not been sexually harassed or fallen foul to domestic violence.
Take for example Ayesha, whose 23-year-old son, Abdul Quader disappeared just before the elections in December 2013 because he was involved in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party or Moyna Khatun, whose husband Mohbbat was picked up by the Rapid Action Battalion in front of a large crowd in January 2013 in Kushtia and disappeared or Rina Alam, whose husband had been missing for nine years in 2024 or high-school going Insha, whose mother has to find ways to support her and her much younger brother.
What do all these women, and many more, share? Not just the loss of a dear member of the family, but also the loss of an important or sole earning member of the family. How are these women and their families faring now? Who is supporting them and their children? They might not be victims of 鈥榲iolence against women鈥� as we generally think of the term, but they are victims of injustice, fear and insecurity; and economic violence.
All this time, they have been unable to seek justice in court and cannot afford legal representation. Many have been unable to access bank accounts of their husband because they have no proof of death. These women 鈥� mothers, wives and daughters 鈥� must now be ensured closure and justice. The whereabouts of the missing must be investigated, leaving no stone unturned and perpetrates must be brought to justice. Now is the time.
Female members of the families of victims of torture, enforced disappearances and other rights violations, which result in the victim鈥檚 becoming unable to support the family due to disability or death, are also victims of violations. Their right to life, health, safety and education are seriously hampered and their future, in many cases, far from secure.
They do not have to be victimised directly to fall in the category of a female victim of rights violation. They, too, need a champion. In reality, their first line of support is their own unity, from which they can gather strength and support. The state machinery must never again fail them.
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Saira Rahman Khan teaches law, BRAC University.