Bangladesh is categorised as a ‘crisis’ country regarding freedom of expression, ranking 128th among 161 countries in the world, according to the Global Expression Report 2024.
UK-based organisation ARTICLE 19 came up with the information in the Global Expression Report 2024 released through a press conference at a hotel in the capital’s Gulshan on Tuesday.
According to the report, Bangladesh scored 12 out of 100, and the score was also the same in 2022. Despite same scores Bangladesh’s ranking has progressed two steps, as its position is 128th in 2023 against 130th in 2022.
Bangladesh, which first entered the list of crisis countries regarding freedom of expression in 2014 with a score of 16, is stuck between a score of 11 and 12 for the past five years.
This score has decreased by 8 points in the last 10 years between 2013 and 2013, while the score has decreased by 32 points since 2000.
Bangladesh was in ‘restricted’ category with a score of 44 in 2000, but the country moved from ‘restricted’ to ‘highly restricted’ category in 2006 with a score of 39, and finally entered the list of ‘crisis’ countries in terms of freedom of expression in 2014 with a score of 16.
If any country scores between 0 and 19, it is categorised as a crisis country where freedom of expression is marked as the worst, the report said.
The report divides countries in five categories—crisis (0–19); highly restricted (20–39); restricted (40–59); less restricted (60–79); and open (80–100).
Among eight south Asian countries, the position of three countries—India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan—are in the crisis category, while Bhutan and Pakistan are in ‘highly restricted’ and Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka are in the ‘restricted’ category.
Nepal is on the top with score 57 regarding freedom of expression among the eight South Asian countries, while Afghanistan is at the bottom with only score 2.
Bangladesh’s position is seventh among eight South Asian countries and just ahead of Afghanistan.
The data reveals that in 2023 the number of ‘crisis’ category countries was 39, and the percentage of people living in these countries rose to 53 per cent, or four billion.
Addressing the press conference, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that a culture of fear has been created for the media and civil society in the country.
 ‘The culture of accepting criticism has not developed in the country. Freedom of expression has been held hostage by power politics, and even the freedom of expression is considered an offence in the country,’ he added.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, said that the score does not reflect the true severity of the situation in which Bangladesh currently is regarding freedom of expression.
The mindset of the government is to control the freedom of expression, but a truly democratic government does not impose control on the opposition’s opinion, she added.
Prothom Alo joint editor Sohrab Hasan said that it is dangerous if the government is afraid of the people. ‘When any government intimidates the people, they try to deal with them using laws in various ways,’ he added.
‘The Cyber Security Act is somewhat more flexible than the Digital Security Act, but the culture of fear remains in the law,’ he said, adding that as long as the culture of fear exists, freedom of expression will continue to deteriorate.
Among the 161 countries, Denmark is the top with score of 95, while North Korea’s position is at the bottom with score 0 in the report. The position of Switzerland is second, Sweden’s third, Belgaum’s fourth and Estonia’s position is fifth in the report.
ARTICLE 19 regional director for Bangladesh and South Asia Sheikh Manjur-e-Alam presented the report at the press conference.
