MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the freedom of expression in Bangladesh

24.11.2015 - (2015/2970(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure

Cristian Dan Preda, Elmar Brok, Patricija Šulin, József Nagy, Eduard Kukan, Bogdan Brunon Wenta, Milan Zver, Giovanni La Via, Davor Ivo Stier, Jiří Pospíšil, Joachim Zeller, Ivan Štefanec, Pavel Svoboda, Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz, Andrey Kovatchev, Tunne Kelam, Tadeusz Zwiefka, Jaromír Štětina, Csaba Sógor, Lefteris Christoforou, Luděk Niedermayer, Marijana Petir, Dubravka Šuica, Andrej Plenković, Adam Szejnfeld, Tomáš Zdechovský, Jeroen Lenaers, Roberta Metsola, Therese Comodini Cachia on behalf of the PPE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-1257/2015

B8‑1262/2015

European Parliament resolution on the freedom of expression in Bangladesh

(2015/2970(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to its previous resolutions on Bangladesh, in particular those of 21 November 2013, 14 March 2013, 16 January 2014 and 18 September 2014,

–   having regard to the Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on Partnership and Development,

–   having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Bangladesh in 2000,

–   having regard to the statements of the European External Action Service spokesperson on the murder of bloggers in Bangladesh of 1 April 2015 and 9 August 2015,

–  having regard to the statement of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of 5 November 2015,

–   having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas the EU has good, long-standing relations with Bangladesh, including through the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development;

B.whereas the European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and has consistently called for its universal abolition;

C.whereas in the last months Bangladesh has seen multiple murders of bloggers and journalists spreading secular and humanist messages;

D.whereas on 26 February 2015, the blogger Avijit Roy, a well-known secularist Bangladeshi blogger was murdered in Dhaka;

E.whereas on 30 March 2015 the blogger Washiqur Rahman was murdered in Dhaka; whereas the attackers later stated they attacked Rahman due to his anti-Islamic articles;

F.whereas on 2 May 2015, the blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death by 4 masked men in Sylhet after having received threats by extremist islamists;

G.whereas on 7 August 2015 the blogger Niladri Chatterjee Niloy was murdered by about 6 men armed with machetes in Dhaka;

H.whereas on 31 October 2015, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was hacked to death in his office in Dhaka and, in a separate incident, three people at another publishing house in the city were reported wounded;

I.whereas on 16 August 2015 the journalist Probir Sikdar, owner of the online newspaper Uttaradhikar Ekattor News, was arrested for allegedly defaming a government minister on Facebook; whereas Sikdar was charged under the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT Act), which criminalizes defamatory and “anti-State” publications and has been used to target dissenting voices;

J.whereas on 18 August 2015 Shaukat Mahmud, President of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, was arrested by plain clothed policemen for allegedly committing an arson attack on a bus on 23 January 2015 and charged in three cases in connection with the alleged attack;

K.whereas many other writers and bloggers have received threats on social media and there are hit-lists published on Facebook targeting secularist writers; whereas some of those threatened have already gone into hiding or fled the country;

L.whereas each of these attacks constitute an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief;

1. Calls on the Bangladesh authorities to strongly condemn these horrendous acts against freedom of expression and to ensure the protection of every individual against such horrific and targeted violence;

2. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to do everything possible to identify all attackers and bring them to justice through a thorough, effective, rigorous and independent investigation and to prosecute them in fair trials without resort to the death penalty;

3. Calls on the Bangladesh Government to act urgently to uphold its obligations under international law to ensure that its people can exercise and defend the freedom of expression including through ensuring the full independence and impartiality of the court system and appropriately amending the ICT Act as well as the Cyber-Security Act of 2015 in order to bring it in line with international free speech standards;

4. Call on the Bangladeshi authorities to consider specific initiatives to prevent the recurrence of attacks against writers and activists not only by the provision of particular physical protections to those who are potential targets for violence, but also by opening public debates challenging extremist views of all kinds;

 

5. Calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to guarantee full independence of the media by, inter alia, dropping all charges against editors and journalists who have published content critical of the government, allow the immediate opening of all media houses which were shuttered, and immediately restore full and unhindered access to all forms of publications, including electronic ones;

 

6. Calls on the European External Action Service to monitor closely the human rights and political situation in Bangladesh;

 

7.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to Vice-President of the European Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the UN Secretary- General, the UN Human Rights Council and the Government and Parliament of Bangladesh.