Global watchdog CIVICUS Monitor today downgraded Bangladesh's civic space to "closed", its worst rating.

The Johannesburg-based civil rights group, dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society worldwide, said in its latest report that the downgrade is the result of a massive government crackdown on opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to national elections in January 2024.

The report, People Power Under Attack 2023, details civic space conditions in 198 countries and territories. Bangladesh's "closed" status places it among the 28 most restricted countries on Earth.

It said, "Authorities have targeted human rights defenders, journalists, protesters and other critics using intimidation, violence, arrest and torture, while security forces detained thousands of opposition members on fabricated charges."

"No free and fair elections can take place in the current environment," said Josef Benedict, Asia-Pacific researcher for CIVICUS.

"We are witnessing an unprecedented global crackdown on civic space," said CIVICUS Monitor lead researcher Marianna Belalba Barreto. "Bangladesh is now at the forefront of the worldwide assault on rights. Independent civil society has virtually no more space to operate there."

The report said Bangladesh's violent attempts to crush the political opposition is the main reason for its downgrade.

Police banned protests and blocked roads, then followed up by indiscriminately firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons at protesters who came out anyway, it said, adding that police also beat opposition supporters with batons, while ruling party supporters armed with hammers, sticks and clubs attacked protesters as law enforcement stood by.

"Authorities also targeted journalists exposing state abuses and shut down critical media outlets. Meanwhile, a new Cyber Security Act, rather than freeing online expression, retained most of the repressive language of the previous draconian Digital Security Act used to criminalise thousands of online critics."

It said security forces stepped up harassment of human rights defenders too, including those in exile and their families.

"Now is the time for the international community to stand with Bangladeshi civil society and demand the Sheikh Hasina regime reverse course," said Benedict. "World leaders must demand the immediate release of jailed opposition leaders and activists and urge the government to allow all political parties to genuinely participate in the elections."

The CIVICUS Monitor rates each country's civic space conditions based on data collected throughout the year from country-focused civil society activists, regionally-based research teams, international human rights indices and the Monitor's own in-house experts.

The data from these four separate sources are then combined to assign each country a rating as either 'open,' 'narrowed,' 'obstructed,' 'repressed' or 'closed.'