824 Incidents Across 63 Districts: HRCBM Warns Minority Persecution in Bangladesh Is Deepening Despite Changes in Government

Following its national press conference in Dhaka, HRCBM releases a six-month documentation report detailing killings, assaults, sexual violence, temple attacks, land grabbing, arson, looting, and blasphemy-related persecution

DHAKA, Bangladesh / SAN JOSE, California - July 26, 2026 - The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) has publicly released The Persecution Continues: Six-Month National Documentation Report, January-June 2026, following the presentation of its findings at a national press conference held at the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association in Dhaka.

The report documents 824 incidents affecting religious and ethnic minority communities across 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts and all eight administrative divisions during the first six months of 2026.

The documented incidents include:

168 murders and mysterious deaths
223 kidnappings and physical assaults
41 incidents of sexual violence, rape, or gang rape
141 attacks on temples and other religious institutions
234 incidents of land grabbing, property dispossession, arson, or looting
17 blasphemy-related incidents

Successive governments have come and gone, yet the insecurity, violence, dispossession, intimidation, and denial of equal protection experienced by Bangladesh's minority communities have continued. HRCBM warns that the frequency, severity, and geographic spread of documented incidents indicate that the crisis has not merely persisted but, in important respects, has intensified in recent years.

"Government changes have not brought meaningful change to the lives of Bangladesh's minorities," said Dhiman Deb Chowdhury, Founder and President of HRCBM. "Communities continue to face killings, assaults, sexual violence, attacks on places of worship, land seizure, fabricated allegations, and barriers to justice. The scale of the documented incidents demands an independent investigation-not further denial, minimization, or political explanation."

National documentation supported by multiple sources

The findings are drawn from HRCBM's incident-level national registry and supported, where available, by:

field investigation and local verification;
victim and family testimony;
eyewitness accounts;
police complaints and court records;
photographic and video evidence; and
corroborating media and open-source documentation.

The report examines not only individual cases but also recurring geographic and temporal patterns, vulnerable populations, institutional protection failures, barriers to justice, impunity, and the particular vulnerability of Indigenous and ethnic minority communities.

It also places the documented incidents within the historical and demographic context of minority insecurity in Bangladesh and considers how repeated failures of prevention, investigation, prosecution, victim protection, and remedy have contributed to a continuing climate of fear.

HRCBM calls for an independent Commission of Inquiry

HRCBM is calling upon the Government of Bangladesh to establish an independent and impartial Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956, led by a serving or retired judge of unquestioned integrity.

The inquiry should include appropriate international observation and meaningful participation by affected communities and credible human-rights organizations.

The proposed commission should examine:

whether minority communities face recurring or disproportionate violence, intimidation, dispossession, and denial of protection;
whether failures by police, administrative authorities, prosecutors, or other institutions contribute to impunity;
whether evidence has been properly preserved and investigated;
whether victims and witnesses have received adequate protection and access to remedies; and
what legal, administrative, and institutional reforms are necessary to prevent recurrence.

HRCBM emphasizes that an independent inquiry would not presume guilt. It would allow verified evidence, witness testimony, official records, and legal standards-not political narratives or institutional defensiveness-to determine the facts.

International legal and accountability concerns

The report reviews Bangladesh's obligations under international human-rights law and examines the potential relevance of Articles 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute, complementarity, domestic accountability deficits, and whether documented patterns may warrant further investigation as potential crimes against humanity or genocidal conduct where the applicable legal elements are established.

Since 2022, HRCBM has submitted reports and supplementary documentation concerning recurring violence against minorities to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, including the present report as supplementary material.

HRCBM is also urging governments, United Nations mechanisms, parliamentarians, diplomatic missions, human-rights organizations, researchers, journalists, and civil-society institutions to review the report and support:

independent investigation;
preservation of evidence;
protection of victims, witnesses, lawyers, journalists, and human-rights defenders;
accountability for perpetrators and institutional failures;
effective remedies for affected communities; and
reforms designed to ensure equal protection and non-recurrence.

"The documented allegations cannot be resolved through competing political claims," Chowdhury said. "Bangladesh's minority communities require truth, protection, accountability, and equal justice. Silence and institutional denial only deepen the perception that those responsible can act without consequence."

Report access

Report title:
The Persecution Continues: HRCBM Six-Month National Documentation Report, January-June 2026

Permanent DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21482232

HRCBM website:
https://www.hrcbm.org

Media contact

Dhiman Deb Chowdhury
Founder and President
Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities
Email: info@hrcbm.org
Phone: +1 408-464-6804
Website: https://www.hrcbm.org

The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) is a human-rights organization documenting violations, providing advocacy and legal support, and promoting justice, accountability, equal protection, and freedom of religion or belief for religious and ethnic minority communities in Bangladesh.

HRCBM is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

This release was published on openPR.