Bangladesh marks International Day of the Disappeared as families seek answers

Families of victims of enforced disappearances gathered Sunday in Dhaka, demanding justice and answers for loved ones who vanished during the former Awami League government.

“I do not know how my father is, where he is, or if he is even alive,” said a woman whose abducted father remains missing.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs organized the gathering to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed worldwide on Aug. 30.

“We promised that those involved in these activities, no matter how high their power is, no matter how powerful they are, we will bring them to face justice,” law minister Mohammad Asaduzzaman said.

Home minister Salahuddin Ahmed, himself a victim of enforced disappearance, pledged stronger legal protections. During the tenure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is now hiding in India as a fugitive, opposition politicians were among the main targets.

“We will bring such a tough law so that no one becomes a victim of enforced disappearance in the future,” Ahmed said.

Human Rights Watch said an interim government commission identified 1,569 cases between 2009 and 2024. Of those, 1,282 people reappeared after secret detention, at least 251 never returned and are presumed dead, and the bodies of 36 others were recovered.

The commission called the figure a “substantial undercount.”