The government has decided to establish a directorate to rehabilitate victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the rule of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Liberation War Affairs Minister Ahmed Azam Khan said the initiative aims to formally recognise and support victims who were forcibly disappeared, killed, tortured, imprisoned in false cases, or left disabled during the previous 17 years.
The proposed directorate will work on rehabilitation, recognition and compensation for victims and their families. The government is also considering new laws to ensure the full rights and appropriate compensation of those affected.
Ahmed Azam Khan said the directorate would serve as a permanent institutional safeguard against the return of authoritarian rule and help ensure that families do not again lose loved ones through enforced disappearance, extrajudicial killing or other forms of repression.
The decision was discussed at an inter-ministerial meeting attended by representatives from the Cabinet Division and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Finance, Law, Social Welfare, Health, Youth and Sports, Labour and Employment, Disaster Management, Women and Children Affairs, and Secondary and Higher Education.
