The US government should continue to press Bangladesh to improve on labor issues and women’s rights, reform abusive security forces, and meet its obligations to refugees, Human Rights Watch said today in a hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress.

“The people of Bangladesh have suffered a great deal of human rights abuses under successive governments, abuses that have all too often been ignored outside of the country,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director. “The situation in the country deserves regular and high-level attention from the US, the UN, and others.”

Sifton outlined key areas of concern in his testimony, including the murder of a prominent labor rights activist, harassment of domestic rights groups, ongoing abuses by the infamous Rapid Action Battalion, the need to repeal antiquated discriminatory laws, and the country’s failure to provide refuge to ethnic Rohingya fleeing Burma.