Bangladesh Parliament Reinstates Toothless 2009 NHRC Law, Commissioners Resign in Protest

When the Law Becomes the Problem

There are moments in a nation’s life when the silence of its institutions speaks louder than any verdict. Bangladesh is living through one such moment right now.

Last week, Parliament repealed the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance issued by the interim government and reinstated the National Human Rights Commission Act of 2009. Within days, the five commissioners of the reconstituted NHRC resigned in protest, issuing a blunt warning about what this legal reversal means for the people of this country. Constitution Watchdog stands with the weight of that warning.

Let us be precise about what has actually happened, because precision matters when governments are selectively vague.

The NHRC Ordinance of 2025, developed through consultations with over 600 stakeholders, had given the commission something it never had before: the genuine power to investigate. It could summon documents from state agencies. It could examine the conduct of law enforcement and intelligence forces without needing to first ask those very forces for permission. For the first time in this country’s history, enforced disappearance was being treated as a distinct crime under law. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances had already received 1,569 complaints and documented 287 victims who remain missing to this day. The foundation had been laid. The scaffolding was standing.

Parliament knocked it down and called it reform.

Under the reinstated 2009 Act, the Human Rights Commission will once again sit under the supervision of the Law Ministry. Before it can investigate any government institution or security personnel, it must first obtain the government’s permission. The outgoing commissioners said it plainly in their open letter:

“If a government institution is accused, an investigation subject to that same government’s permission is meaningless.”

That is not a political statement. That is a constitutional truth.

We understand that a new government needs time. We understand that consultation is valuable. But the government has provided no timeline for when a stronger bill will be introduced. Promises without timelines are not commitments. They are exits.

The resignations of five human rights commissioners must not become a footnote. These were individuals who chose to walk away from office rather than lend their names to a system they could no longer defend. That is not drama. That is conscience in action. This country has too rarely seen it, and we must recognize it for what it is.

Constitution Watchdog calls on the government to publish a binding legislative calendar for the reintroduction of the Human Rights Commission Bill and the Enforced Disappearance Bill before the next parliamentary session. We call on the parliamentary opposition to maintain its pressure with facts, not theatrics. And we call on every citizen who remembers the July uprising and what was paid for it to stay watchful.

Rights do not expire when ordinances lapse. But the institutions meant to protect them can. And when they do, the people are left with nothing but their grief and a law that was designed, long ago, to look the other way.

We are watching. And we will not stop.