Mission heads of the European Union (EU) member states, the EU delegation, and chiefs of Norway and Switzerland missions have reiterated their concerns over several provisions of the Digital Security Act.
“We reiterate our concerns around several provisions of the Digital Security Act which unduly restrict the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media and undermine judicial procedural guarantees,” they said in a joint local statement Thursday.
Mentioning that on 19 September, the "Digital Security Act, 2018" was passed in Parliament, the statement said the Act in its current form could be used to suppress and criminalise the legitimate exercise of these freedoms.
They also called upon the Government of Bangladesh to continue consultations on this law and pursue the commitments made during the Universal Periodic Review last May, so as to ensure that the Digital Security Act will be in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Constitution of Bangladesh.
The statement was issued by Rensje Teerink, Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union, Mario Palma, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Italy, D Álvaro de Salas Giménez de Azcárate, Ambassador, Embassy of Spain, Charlotta Schlyter, Ambassador, Embassy of Sweden, Marie-Annick Bourdin, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of France, Peter Fahrenholtz, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Harry Verweij, Ambassador-designate, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Winnie Estrup Petersen, Ambassador-designate, Royal Danish Embassy, Kanbar Hossein-Bor, acting High Commissioner, British High Commission, Sidsel Bleken, Ambassador, Royal Norwegian Embassy and René Holenstein, Ambassador, Embassy of Switzerland.
