Bangladesh 🇧🇩

Background of the conflict and key challenges in relation to CRSV

The Liberation War or the Bangladesh War of Independence began in March 1971 when the West Pakistan rules and army reacted to the calls for the self-determination of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan). A general election took place in Pakistan in 1970 during the military regime of President Yahya Khan. Awami League, the largest political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto conspired with Yahya Khan and refused to hand over power to Sheikh Mujib. When it was clear that prior promises made by the West-Pakistani government would not be followed, the whole nation of Bangla-speaking Muslims and Hindus of East Pakistan began the spirited struggle for liberation. Sheikh Mujib called for a non-cooperation movement in his momentous speech on March 7th, 1971. Pakistani military junta launched Operation Searchlight on March 25th, starting the Bangladesh Genocide. Up to 3 million Bangladeshis were killed, and hundreds of thousands of women were raped and attacked with sexual violence. After nine months, the Pakistani army surrendered, which resulted in the independence of Bangladesh on the 16th of December, ending 23 years of rule by Pakistan.

During the war, sexual violence was strategically and systematically used to dominate, humiliate and destroy the Bangladesh society. Rape camps were created where women where raped, tortured, and deprived of food. The Bangladeshi government estimates that 200.000 women were raped. However, the exact number is unclear due to underreporting because of stigmatisation.

Response and Support for Survivors 

In Bengali, Birangona means ‘Brave Woman’, and this was the honourific granted by the Interim Government of Bangladesh, only six days after the war ended, to all the women and girls who were subjected to the campaign of mass rape carried out by the Pakistani army in order to reduce social ostracism and appalling stigma. However, many women were still excluded from society, sometimes to such an extent that many were reported to have either fled the country or committed suicide. Many women were also shamed for carrying the children of the Pakistani army and its paramilitary forces. 

The Bangladesh Women’s Rehabilitation Board was set up in 1972 to address the harm that resulted and assist those women who were abandoned by their families. Together with the World Health Organisation and the International Planned Parenthood Association, the government implemented a victim relief programme to organise abortion facilities. The anti-abortion law was waived from January to October for rape victims. The Bangladesh Abandoned Children Order of 1972 provided for a procedure to legalise the adoption of deserted children. 

The Rehabilitation Board and other organisations set up a Women’s Career Training Institute and a residential poultry farm to enhance livelihood skills and empower survivors, with the goal of providing women with jobs and increasing autonomy. 

A tribunal was set up in 2009 to prosecute war criminals, but its legitimacy was questioned due to its inability to prosecute criminals outside Bangladesh. Since then, it has delivered verdicts against over 130 people in over 50 cases. Only four men in Bangladesh were convicted of rape, abduction, confinement, and torture. Pakistan’s government has not acknowledged or apologised for the genocide it perpetrated and its crimes against humanity 

during the Liberation War. In 2015, 43 years after the Liberation War, the Bangladesh Government officially recognised the Birangona women as Freedom Fighters and began identifying them to provide them with a stipend. The process is complicated, lengthy and humiliating for the survivors, and the efforts of the Bangladeshi government regarding reparations have been insufficient. 

Right after the war, the Bangladeshi government publicly designated a woman raped in the war as a ‘Birangona’ (brave woman) for the purpose of reducing social ostracism. However, many women were still excluded from society. After the war, only four men, and only in Bangladesh, were convicted for rape, abduction, confinement, and torture, although the fairness of these trials is questioned. The principal perpetrators were not held accountable for their crimes.

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The Rehabilitation Board and other organisations set up a Women’s Career Training Institute and a residential poultry farm to enhance livelihood skills and empower survivors, with the goal of providing women with jobs and increasing autonomy. 

A tribunal was set up in 2009 to prosecute war criminals, but its legitimacy was questioned due to its inability to prosecute criminals outside Bangladesh. Since then, it has delivered verdicts against over 130 people in over 50 cases. Only four men in Bangladesh were convicted of rape, abduction, confinement, and torture. Pakistan’s government has not acknowledged or apologised for the genocide it perpetrated and its crimes against humanity 

during the Liberation War. In 2015, 43 years after the Liberation War, the Bangladesh Government officially recognised the Birangona women as Freedom Fighters and began identifying them to provide them with a stipend. The process is complicated, lengthy and humiliating for the survivors, and the efforts of the Bangladeshi government regarding reparations have been insufficient.