Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has claimed that the newly-adopted fundamental changes to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Ordinance 2025 have placed the commission's formation under direct bureaucratic control, erasing prospects for independence from government influence.
TIB expressed deep concern in a statement on Saturday alleging the Cabinet Secretary has been included in the Selection Committee conspiratorially, while stakeholders involved in drafting the ordinance were kept uninformed.
Furthermore, the organisation described these developments as embarrassing examples of the government's surrender to bureaucrats with anti-reform interests.
"Following the gazette notification of the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, TIB and other stakeholders had hoped a window had opened to free the Commission from bureaucratic capture," said TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
However, within just one month, the Selection Committee-meant to act as a safeguard against bureaucratic abuse of power-has instead been turned into an instrument of government control, he added.
Iftekharuzzaman also said that 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.
TIB has urged the government to immediately reverse its surrender to an anti-reform bureaucratic clique and repeal all imposed provisions in the ordinance.
The watchdog specifically called for removing the Cabinet Secretary from the Selection Committee and undertaking a full overhaul of the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance.
The statement reveals that Ordinance for the formation of the National Human Rights Commission published in the Gazette on 9 November 2025, did not include any representative of the bureaucracy in the Selection Committee.
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 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.
jahid.rn@gmail.com
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
