Every generation inherits new rights to defend. This Human Rights Day, Bangladesh confronts a frontier expanding faster than laws or institutions can manage: the digital world.

Bangladesh now needs a government prepared to confront long-standing issues such as custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, and border violence instead of repeating earlier patterns of inaction, rights activist ASM Nasiruddin Elan has said.

Years of political hostility and the misuse of state agencies have kept political violence alive in Bangladesh, and only a newly elected government with the goodwill to act can break this cycle, said human rights activist Nur Khan Liton.

Justice and accountability for the egregious human rights violations of the past is crucial, but the challenge lies in ensuring this is not done by repeating patterns of reprisal and retaliation, warned Sara Hossain, a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court, as she spoke about the role of political parties in protecting human rights.

ASK reports 29 deaths in 11 months till November this year

Human rights are “everyday essentials” for a functioning society -- the pillars of security, justice, and expression that people rely upon daily.