Executive Summary

The human rights situation of Bangladesh in the first six months of 2016 was cause for grave concern. After the controversial and farcical Parliamentary elections, political intolerance, lack of effective institutions and wide-spread and varied human rights violations were the main obstacles to the exercise of democracy in Bangladesh. The Caretaker Government system was incorporated in the Constitution through the 13th Amendment, as a result of people’s movement led by the then Opposition Awami League and its alliance between 1994 and 1996.