According to a top US envoy now in Bangladesh, sanctions against an elite Bangladeshi police unit accused of arbitrary killings won’t be lifted until the force is reformatted.
This week, State Department Counselor Derek Chollet traveled to the South Asian nation where he spoke with officials in Dhaka about security cooperation.
The ambassador is among the most senior US government representatives to visit Bangladesh since Washington censured the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for violating human rights.
“If there’s an erosion in democracy anywhere, it starts to put a limiting factor on what we can do together,” Chollet said at the conclusion of his trip on Wednesday.
“We are committed to continuing to help Bangladesh strengthen the rule of law and security,” he said of the sanctions.
“Until we see accountability until we see sustained reform, we are not going to be able to turn the page on this.”
Washington and Dhaka often maintain cordial relations. They work together on security-related issues, and Bangladesh frequently joins the United States in voting at the UN.
But, the political atmosphere in Bangladesh, where the party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina controls the legislature and effectively operates it as a rubber-stamp parliament, has drawn concern from the US and other Western governments.
Odhikar, a rights organization, claims that ssince 2009, security forces have killed almost 2,500 people in Bangladesh.
Rights organizations accuse the RAB of murdering political rivals and orchestrating gunfights to deny victims the right to a fair trial.
The allegations of extrajudicial killings and disappearances are denied by the government; one official claimed that some of the missing people had really departed Bangladesh.
Seven prominent current or former RAB officials were subject to asset freezes and visa bans as a result of US sanctions that were put in place in December 2021.
Chollet concluded his South Asia tour with an official visit to Pakistan after meeting Hasina in Dhaka.
