Press Statement
Dhaka, 13 December 2025: Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed deep concern and disappointment that conspiratorial fundamental changes to the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance 2025 have placed the process of forming the Commission under bureaucratic control, thereby completely destroying the possibility that had emerged for constituting the Commission independently of government influence. The organization cited the fact that stakeholders involved in drafting the ordinance were kept in the dark, which illustrates how bureaucratic rigidity and even sabotage are holding the long-anticipated reform process hostage. The Cabinet Secretary was included on the Selection Committee solely to confirm government control of the process by maintaining authoritarian practices. Furthermore, the organization described these developments as embarrassing examples of the government’s surrender to bureaucrats with anti-reform interests.
In a statement today, TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “After the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance was published in gazette form, TIB and other stakeholders—despite identifying several weaknesses—had hoped that an opportunity had emerged to free the Commission from bureaucratic capture and to constitute it in line with public expectations and international standards. However, within just one month, on 9 December, the very Selection Committee that could have served as the cornerstone for preventing bureaucratic abuse of power has been transformed into an instrument of government control. The Human Rights Commission and other commissions in Bangladesh have long been ineffective due to government influence, and this change in the Selection Committee is essentially not an isolated incident but rather an example of a conspiratorial attempt to maintain the same process.”
Describing this bureaucratic takeover of the Selection Committee—and the government’s acquiescence to it—as deeply disappointing, Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said that the amendment includes a commendable provision to establish a National Preventive Mechanism to prevent cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. However, the inclusion of the Cabinet Secretary in the Selection Committee alone effectively undermines all prospects of the independence, impartiality, and effectiveness of the National Human Rights Commission and the very spirit of that provision.
Moreover, Dr. Zaman noted that replacing the obligation to inform the Commission of actions taken in cases of non-compliance with its orders with permissive wording such as “may be informed,” along with the addition of several similar provisions, has trampled all the positive potential that the ordinance was expected to deliver.
TIB calls upon the government to immediately withdraw from this embarrassing position of surrender to a sabotage-driven, anti-reform bureaucratic clique; to repeal all imposed provisions in the ordinance—particularly the decision to include the Cabinet Secretary in the Selection Committee—and to completely overhaul the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance anew.
It may be noted that Ordinance No. 62 for the formation of the National Human Rights Commission, which was published in the Gazette on 9 November 2025, did not include any representative of the bureaucracy in the Selection Committee as stipulated in Article 7. This demonstrated the government's and all stakeholders’ common understanding of the long-standing, difficult interaction with the National Human Rights Commission's inefficiency. However, in the subsequently amended Ordinance No. 74, published in the Gazette on 8 December, the Cabinet Secretary was unilaterally included in the Selection Committee—without informing any of the stakeholders involved in the drafting process—solely to ensure bureaucratic dominance over the committee.
Media Contact:
Mohammad Tauhidul Islam
Director, Outreach and Communication
Phone: +8801713107868
Email: tauhidul@ti-bangladesh.org
