The CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, in a new report on Wednesday downgraded Bangladesh's civic space to 'closed,' its worst rating.
CIVICUS, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, downgraded the country for a massive government crackdown on opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to national elections in January 2024.
The CIVICUS Monitor, its research tool to provide real-time data on the state of civil society and civic freedoms, in this new report titled "People Power Under Attack 2023", detailed civic space conditions in 198 countries and territories.
The report alleged that the authorities in Bangladesh ahead of the January 2024 vote have targeted human rights defenders, journalists, protesters and other critics using intimidation, violence, arrest and torture, while security forces detained thousands of opposition members on fabricated charges.
"Our data shows the Sheikh Hasina regime stops at nothing to hold on to power," said Josef Benedict, Asia-Pacific researcher for CIVICUS, in a statement, adding, "No free and fair elections can take place in the current environment."
The CIVICUS Monitor rates each country's civic space conditions based on data collected throughout the year from country-focused civil society activists, regionally-based research teams, international human rights indices and the Monitor's own in-house experts.
The data from these four separate sources are then combined to assign each country a rating as either 'open,' 'narrowed,' 'obstructed,' 'repressed' or 'closed.'
Bangladesh's 'closed' status places it among the 28 most restricted countries on Earth.
This year, nearly a third of humanity, or 30.6 per cent of the global population, live in these 'closed' countries, the highest percentage the CIVICUS Monitor has recorded since its first report in 2018.
Meanwhile, just 2.1 per cent of people live in 'open' countries, where civic space is both free and protected, the lowest percentage yet and almost half the rate of six years ago. Together, these statistics point to a world in crisis.
"Bangladesh is now at the forefront of the worldwide assault on rights. Independent civil society has virtually no more space to operate there," said CIVICUS Monitor lead researcher Marianna Belalba Barreto.
It also alleged that authorities also targeted journalists exposing state abuses and shut down critical media outlets.
Meanwhile, a new Cyber Security Act, rather than freeing online expression, retained most of the repressive language of the previous draconian Digital Security Act used to criminalise thousands of online critics, it continued.
The report also alleged that the security forces stepped up harassment of human rights defenders too, including those in exile and their families.
"World leaders must demand the immediate release of jailed opposition leaders and activists and urge the government to allow all political parties to genuinely participate in the elections," said Benedict.
The other downgraded countries this year are Bosnia & Herzegovina (obstructed), Germany (narrowed), Kyrgyzstan (repressed), Senegal (repressed), Sri Lanka (repressed) and Venezuela (closed).
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