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surrender to bureaucrats with anti-reform interests.

In a statement yesterday, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said after the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance was published as a gazette, TIB and other stakeholders -- despite 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 December 9, 2025, 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,” he added.

Describing this bureaucratic takeover of the selection committee -- and the government’s acquiescence -- as deeply disappointing, Iftekharuzzaman said 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 undermines all prospects of the independence, impartiality, and effectiveness of the National Human Rights Commission and the very spirit of that provision.

Moreover, the TIB chief noted that the ordinance replaces obligatory requirements with permissive provisions. He pointed out that instead of binding requirement to inform the commission about measures taken in response to the commission’s orders the new wording makes it more flexible with phrases like “may be informed,” along with the addition of several similar provisions. This, he said, tramples all positive potential that the ordinance was expected to deliver.

TIB called 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.