Bangladesh to form human rights commission News
Bangladesh to form human rights commission

[JURIST] The interim government of Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday it plans to set up a national human rights commission in the country to deal with human rights problems there. Human rights groups have recently complained about extra-judicial killings and arbitrary arrests [HRW press release] by the security forces in Bangladesh. There have been 50 unexplained deaths in the country since the interim government took control on January 12.

Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile] declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country on January 11 in the face of unrest over upcoming national elections and later cancelled a scheduled national poll [JURIST report]. The interim military-backed government has promised to hold new elections, but no date has yet been set. AFP has more.