CIVICUS global civil society alliance warns of faltering civic space under the new Bangladeshi government. Evidence suggests that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is further restricting civic freedoms. It has also failed to enact reforms proposed by the interim government which replaced former PM Sheikh Hasina’s regime following mass protests two years ago.

Human rights defenders are extremely concerned about the decreasing space to speak up or undertake activism since the February 2026 elections, which brought the BNP government to power. Many have been silenced due to fear of reprisals by both state and non-state actors.

The BNP government has failed to meaningfully reform the police and notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) which was weaponised under the previous regime to silence all forms of dissent. Further, there has been no reforms to the NGO Affairs Bureau which was used to target critical civil society groups.

Press freedom remains a concern and journalists have been arrested and detained on vague and baseless legal charges including alleged “crimes against humanity” under Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. Online critics have also been targeted by the authorities, and many fear that the government will use the Cyber Protection Act 2026 to further criminalise online dissent.

“The BNP government has grossly failed to undertake the human rights reforms demanded following the 2024 protests and implement many of the recommendations put forward by the interim government. Instead, we are witnessing the BNP government’s efforts to reverse the progressive steps following the protests. This is a clear betrayal of the 2024 movement and inconsistent with Bangladesh’s international human rights obligations,” said Rajavelu Karunanithi, Advocacy & Campaigns Officer for Asia at CIVICUS.

CIVICUS is also concerned that the new government failed to pass the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordinance. It has since proposed a much weaker bill that would make the NHRC a symbolic body with limited authority and little capacity to hold state institutions accountable. The draft bill is also not aligned with the Paris Principles, the minimum international standards for a national human rights institution.

The government has also not taken forward the recommendations of the interim government’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED). The COIED documented the systemic perpetration of disappearances by security forces under the Hasina government. Many continue to wait for justice and reparations. Even worse, in July 2026, human rights groups reported the first known enforced disappearance case in two years.

“The government must set up an independent and effective national human rights body, in line with the Paris Principles. It must ensure that all those involved in committing enforced disappearances are held to account,” added Karunanithi.