Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Part Three)Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission2026-09-18 | Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Part Three)Burma: Human Rights in the Aftermath of the CoupTomLantosHumanRights2023-09-14 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on human rights in Burma in the aftermath of the February 2021 coup d’état.Nagorno-Karabakh: An UpdateTomLantosHumanRights2023-09-07 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh.Human Rights in Bangladesh: An UpdateTomLantosHumanRights2023-08-15 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a briefing on the human rights situation in Bangladesh as elections approach in January 2024.
Bangladesh, a long-standing U.S. partner and host to nearly one million Rohingya refugees, is a parliamentary democracy that faces an array of serious human rights and governance challenges. In December 2021 the U.S. imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions against the Rapid Action Battalion and six of its current and former high-level officers, and Section 7031(c) visa sanctions against a seventh official, in response to well-documented reports of serious human rights abuses by that entity. Concerns about democratic backsliding in the aftermath of the December 2018 parliamentary election, widely considered not to have been free and fair, and in light of an ongoing crackdown on journalists and government critics through harassment, surveillance, physical attacks and arrests, are understood to have contributed to the State Department’s decision not to invite Bangladesh to the 2023 Summit for Democracy. The State Department subsequently announced in May 2023 that it will restrict visa issuance for any Bangladeshis it finds to be undermining Bangladesh’s democratic election process ahead of scheduled 2024 voting.
Panelists will examine the state of human rights leading up to the election and offer recommendations for Congress.
This briefing was recorded on August 15, 2023.
Panelists - Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, Liaison Officer, Asian Human Rights Commission & Asian Legal Resource Centre - Kristi Ueda, Donald M. and Susan N. Wilson Fellow, International Advocacy & Litigation, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights - Julia Bleckner, Senior Asia Researcher, Human Rights Watch - Geoffrey Macdonald, Ph.D., Visiting Expert, South Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace, and Senior Advisor, Asia-Pacific Division, International Republican Institute
Moderator - Tariq Ahmad, Foreign Law Specialist, Law Library of Congress
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Rights Commission for a hearing examining the usage of starvation as a weapon of war.Accountability for Russia’s War Crimes and Aggression against UkraineTomLantosHumanRights2022-03-08 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a virtual hearing exploring Russian accountability of war crimes and aggression against Ukraine.Northern Ireland: Accountability at RiskTomLantosHumanRights2022-02-18 | Check out the video for our TLHRC Hearing - Northern Ireland: Accountability at Risk.Accountability and Human Rights in Sri LankaTomLantosHumanRights2021-12-08 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.Military Coup in Sudan: Implications for Human RightsTomLantosHumanRights2021-12-07 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the implications of the October 2021 military coup d’état in Sudan for human rights.Military Coup in Sudan: Implications for Human 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of Religious Freedom Around the GlobeTomLantosHumanRights2021-07-13 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing to examine the state of religious freedom around the world.Judicial Independence in Central AmericaTomLantosHumanRights2021-07-02 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on judicial independence in Central America.Protests in ColombiaTomLantosHumanRights2021-07-01 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing to examine from a human rights perspective the causes and consequences of the recent wave of protests in Colombia.Establishing a War Crimes & Economic Crimes Court for LiberiaTomLantosHumanRights2021-06-23 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the proposal to establish a War Crimes & Economic Crimes Court for Liberia.Judicial Independence in Central AmericaTomLantosHumanRights2021-06-09 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on judicial independence in Central America.Judicial Independence in Central AmericaTomLantosHumanRights2021-06-09 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on judicial independence in Central America.China, Genocide and the OlympicsTomLantosHumanRights2021-05-19 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China for a joint hearing to examine the implications of holding the XXIV Winter Olympiad in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in light of the country’s egregious human rights record.Democracy and Human Rights in BelarusTomLantosHumanRights2021-05-06 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on democracy and human rights in Belarus.Human Rights and U.S. Policy in the MENA Region Ten Years After the Arab SpringTomLantosHumanRights2021-04-29 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the state of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa ten years after the Arab Spring and implications for U.S. foreign policy.Civil and Political Rights in the Republic of Korea: Implications for Human Rights on the PeninsulaTomLantosHumanRights2021-04-15 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on freedom of expression on the Korean peninsula.Virtual Roundtable - The Dissident: A conversation on human rights and accountabilityTomLantosHumanRights2021-04-09 | Please join the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Thursday April 8 at 5:00 PM EDT for a conversation with the filmmakers of the documentary “The Dissident” and a roundtable discussion with Members of Congress on U.S. – Saudi relations and accountability for human rights violations moderated by Alexander Marquardt, Senior National Security Correspondent at CNN.The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act: Taking StockTomLantosHumanRights2021-03-24 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing to examine implementation of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.Conflict and Killings in Nigeria’s Middle BeltTomLantosHumanRights2020-12-18 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the deteriorating human rights situation in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, including its religious dimensions, and proposed responses.The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the AmericasTomLantosHumanRights2020-11-20 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a virtual hearing on the status of the human rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas.Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: An UpdateTomLantosHumanRights2020-11-10 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for an online briefing on the current human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.Women’s Human Rights Defenders in Saudi ArabiaTomLantosHumanRights2020-11-05 | Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a briefing on the plight of women’s human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.
Introduction from Thomas O. Melia, Moderator (PEN America) - 0.00 to 3:27 Waleed al-Hathloul's statment (Brother of imprisoned Saudi women's rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul) - 3:29 to 10:51 Malak al-Shehri's statement (Wife of imprisoned Saudi activist Ayman al-Drees) - 10:59 to 14:07 Safa al-Ahmad's statement (Saudi journalist and documentary filmmaker) - 14:30 to 19:30 Omaima Al-Najjar's statement (Exiled Saudi physician and blogger) - 19:36 to 24:17 Sarah Leah Whitson's statement (Human Rights Watch) - 24:21 to 33:25 Seth Binder's statement (Project on Middle East Democracy) - 33:52 to 39:15 Concluding remarks from Thomas O. Melia, Moderator (PEN America) - 39:17 to END