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| The Bangladesh prime minister arriving in the Netherlands on a three day trip |
Bangladesh, as a country, has much going for it with an economy motoring along at 6%, and a government with big dreams of moving the country to a middle income country.
At the same time, however, the human rights situation has perhaps never been worse - certainly not since the return of democracy in 1990. As Human Rights Watch has recently put it: the country has a ‘large number of chronic and serious human rights violations which fly under the radar on the global scene.’
So, whilst the Netherlands ministers discusses important things as cooperation on dealing with flooding in Bangladesh, and other development collaborations, perhaps they can also take the time to at least ask her questions on these seven issues
1. Media Freedom
The country's military intelligence DGFI, which the prime minister controls, has ordered the major telecommunications and consumer companies to stop advertising by in the country's two leading independent newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo.
What are you going to do to stop this significant infringement of the freedom of the media and intimidation of these papers?
- Bangladesh spies accused of blocking media adverts
- Bangladesh blocks ads, curbs media freedom
- 7 things you need to know about the government advert embargo
