As Bangladesh prepares for its first general elections since the Monsoon Revolution of August 2024, attacks on women, girls, and religious minorities are rising, exposing serious gaps in the interim government’s protection of fundamental rights. Between January and June 2025, police data indicates an increase in gender-based violence compared to the same period in 2024. Dr. Fauzia Moslem, president of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (Women’s Council of Bangladesh), attributes this surge to heightened activity and rhetoric by hardline religious groups attempting to curtail women’s freedom of movement and societal participation. In May 2025, these groups protested government initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality, denouncing them as “anti-Islamic.”
Since then, women and girls have faced verbal, physical, and digital abuse, further silencing their voices through fear of retaliation. Religious minorities, particularly Hindus, have also been targeted. In December, Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old garment worker, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy. Rights groups report at least 51 attacks on Hindus, including 10 killings, while ethnic minorities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts continue to experience harassment from security forces.
Despite Bangladesh’s history of women leaders and active participation in the 2024 student-led protests, women remain largely excluded from politics. In the upcoming elections, 30 out of 51 political parties have no women candidates, and Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the country’s two major political parties, has not nominated a single woman among its 276 candidates.
Human rights groups urge the government to implement recommendations from the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, including increasing women’s parliamentary representation, adhering to the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace, and Security agenda, and fulfilling obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Authorities must also uphold constitutional protections for religious and ethnic minorities.
These measures are not new; they echo longstanding calls by Bangladeshis before and after the Monsoon Revolution. The interim government and all political parties must now commit to advancing gender equality and safeguarding minority rights to ensure free, fair, and inclusive elections.
