ASK has called for forming an independent and impartial commission to stop enforced disappearances and investigate all such cases in the country, as the world is observing the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances today, August 30.
At least 614 people in Bangladesh were victims of enforced disappearances until August this year since 2007, ASK (Ain O Salish Kendra) said in a statement marking the Day, adding that 78 of them were later found dead, 94 were arrested and 57 returned home.
It urged the government to establish justice by ensuring security, signing international conventions on enforced disappearances, changing the existing legal framework to ensure justice for the victims without denying serious human rights violations such as enforced disappearance, and incorporating 'enforced disappearances' as specific crimes, not as 'kidnapping'.
The legal rights group also asked the National Human Rights Commission to step in by taking measures like investigating incidents of enforced disappearances, finding out the victims and ensuring justice for them.
Declaring widespread and systematic enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity, the UN has been observing August 30 as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances since 2011 in order to create awareness about them.
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