EASO COI Report. Country Overview

English

In a ‘Country Overview’ report, EASO aims to provide information on a wide range of topics of particular relevance for international protection status determination (Refugee Status and Subsidiary Protection) for Bangladeshi applicants.

The information has largely been taken from open sources, such as international and Bangladeshi NGOs, think tanks, media, and academic research. The majority of the information was researched during the drafting period 4 to 22 September 2017. Some additional information was researched during the implementation phase of the peer-review comments, with the purpose of complementing the existing draft.

No information on events occurring after 22 October 2017 has been included in the report, with the exception of chapter 20. Due to the rapid escalation of the situation concerning Rohingya, it was deemed necessary by both drafters and peer-reviewers to include information beyond the agreed information cut-off date. Research for chapter 20 was conducted until 30 November 2017.

The first chapter of this report provides general country information about the geography, demography and economy in Bangladesh. The second chapter presents the state structures and political system, followed by political parties in the third chapter. The fourth chapter covers the judiciary and informal justice systems, while chapter five provides references to criminal law. Chapters six to nine focuses on the police and security forces, arrest and detention, prison conditions, and the death penalty, respectively. In chapter ten, a number of non-state armed groups are described as well as recent terrorist attacks. Chapter 11 examines freedom of expression and the media, and chapter 12 covers freedom of religion. Chapter 13 is devoted to the main minority ethnic groups, and chapter 14 and 15 to the situation of women and LGBT persons. Chapter 16 gives information on freedom of movement and chapter 17 is on human trafficking. The last three chapters focus on land disputes, personal loans and debts, and the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh.

This report was co-drafted by the national asylum and migration departments of Bulgaria, Italy and United Kingdom.

The following departments reviewed this report, together with EASO:

- Czech Republic, Department for Asylum and Migration Policy, International and European Affairs Unit;

- Norway, Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre, Landinfo;

- Slovenia, Migration Office, International Protection Proceedings Division;

- Slovak Republic, Migration Office, Department of Documentation and Foreign Cooperation.

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology.

Policy

The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EASO, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.

When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.

There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.

Land: 
Bangladesh

Information about the asylum procedure, tailored to the asylum seeker, can be found at : asyluminbelgium.be.