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the current ordinances and serve only to bring them further in line with international standards, including the Paris Principles, and remove the death penalty as a punishment from the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance 2025,” the statement said.

The organisations also said the BNP government faces a major test just six weeks after taking office and should pass the ordinances without weakening them to show its commitment to a rights-respecting future.

The signatories include the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Fortify Rights, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, Tech Global Institute, and the United Against Torture Consortium (UATC), including the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), Omega Research Foundation, Redress, and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

According to the statement, four ordinances adopted by the interim government, the NHRC Ordinance 2025, its amendment ordinance 2025, the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance 2025, and its amendment ordinance 2026, together created a framework to rebuild the NHRC and move it closer to compliance with the Paris Principles and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

“If the ordinances are not passed soon, the law will revert to the NHRC Act 2009, under which the NHRC was toothless and ineffective in addressing human rights violations, including by security forces,” the statement read.

It added that the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance 2025 empowers the NHRC to investigate disappearances, building on the work of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED).

The COIED received 1,569 complaints of disappearances and documented 287 victims who remain missing, the statement said.

“Critically, the ordinances establish enforced disappearance as a distinct crime under Bangladesh law for the first time and provide remedies for victims and their families,” it added.

The organisation also said that the Paris Principles, which set out international standards for national human rights institutions, require that the NHRC should be independent of the government.

“As such, it should not be under the oversight of any government ministry. The existing ordinance provides an improved basis for the institution’s transparency and accountability as an independent body. The NHRC needs to remain empowered to open investigations as it deems necessary.”

A requirement to seek government “permission” to investigate the security forces, for instance, would entirely undermine its independence. For the same reason, it is vital that government representatives do not dominate the committee for selecting commissioners, it added.

The rights organisations also said the ordinances have produced key human rights reforms, and there is a risk that such progress will be lost if the ordinances are not passed by the new government.