In a significant step towards addressing long-standing allegations of enforced disappearances and strengthening accountability mechanisms, the government has established Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Tribunals in each of the country's eight administrative divisions.
The specialised tribunals have been established to hear and try cases of enforced disappearances within their respective divisions, including metropolitan areas, marking Bangladesh's first use of a dedicated judicial framework to deal solely with such allegations.
According to a gazette notification issued on December 17, the tribunals were established to exercise the powers conferred by Section 13 of the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance, 2025. The ordinance criminalises enforced disappearances and establishes procedures for investigating, prosecuting, and compensating victims and their families.
The eight tribunals will be known as the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Tribunal in Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, and Barishal, ensuring national jurisdiction.
According to the ordinance, tribunals will be able to officially declare a person "disappeared" if they have been missing for at least five years and have not returned alive. These declarations are expected to play an important role in allowing families to pursue legal remedies, compensation, and other civil rights.
On December 18, the government approved a draft of the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, which will strengthen the legal framework. The amendment empowers the government to appoint the necessary number of public prosecutors for the tribunals based on National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommendations, ensuring independence and expertise in prosecution.
Victims and their families will also have greater access to justice under the ordinance. Victims or complainants will be able to appoint lawyers to tribunals on their own initiative, whereas the spouse or any dependent family member of a missing person will be able to use the missing individual's property without the commission's prior approval.
Legal experts say the tribunals are a significant institutional step towards addressing enforced disappearances, a long-standing domestic and international issue. Observers point out, however, that the new system's effectiveness will ultimately be determined by transparent investigations, impartial prosecutions, and timely case resolution.
The formation of the tribunals, as well as the amendment to the ordinance, signal the government's intention to institutionalise accountability and provide long-awaited legal redress to victims and families of enforced disappearances.
