GCDG report on freedom of religion or belief in relation to death and honouring the deceased

GCDG report on freedom of religion or belief in relation to death and honouring the deceased

25 April 2026

Although the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees the dignity of religion and of the dead, in the past year (August 2024 to October 2025) there have been over a hundred incidents where the right to funeral rites, burial/cremation was obstructed by the state, where bodies were exhumed from graves and set on fire, graves vandalized and desecrated, skeletons stolen, necrophilia, and insecurity in cemeteries/cremation grounds. Religious and faith-based communities, CSOs, and academics have said these incidents affected not only minorities; the majority Muslim community’s Sufis and the Ahmadiyya community were also concerned.