One year on from a civil uprising in Bangladesh that left as many as 1,400 people dead and saw the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, hope for the restoration of a rights-based democracy and free civil society is beginning to fade for some.
During Hasina’s 15-year rule, the development sector faced violent crackdowns against human rights activists and civil society leaders, and NGOs struggled with increasing restrictions and scrutiny, including arbitrary deregistration and the withholding of funds. When an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus — joined by several NGO leaders and human rights campaigners who had been personally targeted under the previous regime — took power last August, many saw an opportunity for change.
But a year later, most of the promised reforms have still not taken place, and human rights activists have expressed concerns about a backsliding on women’s and minority rights. Economic woes are exacerbating problems for the sector, with drastic cuts to foreign aid leaving a gap that the government is unable to fill as it struggles to rebuild an ailing economy.