Bangladesh: Tenant registration (or tenant verification) system, including implementation; whether authorities share information on tenant registration (2016-January 2020)
1. Citizen Information Management System (CIMS)
In Dhaka, tenants' information is collected by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) (bdnews24.com 2 Mar. 2016; Dhaka Tribune 30 Jan. 2019; Odhikar 1 Nov. 2016, para. 28). The DMP started collecting tenants' information "after several militant hideouts" were found in different homes in Dhaka (Dhaka Tribune 30 Jan. 2019; bdnews24.com 2 Mar. 2016).
The Dhaka Tribune, a Dhaka-based English-language daily newspaper, reports the following:
The DMP form asks landlords to provide details of tenant or the flat/house owner's name, photo, permanent address, workplace address, religion, mobile phone number, national ID number, email address, passport number, and the names, ages, occupations and mobile phone numbers of the family members. (Dhaka Tribune 30 Jan. 2019)
Similarly, bdnews24.com, a Bangladeshi online newspaper, reported in 2016 that
[t]he Dhaka Metropolitan Police has recently given "registration forms" to house owners for collecting details, along with photograph[s], of their tenants.
Besides personal information like date of birth, passport number, the police have also sought details of tenants' family members and employees, like household workers and car drivers. (bdnews24.com 2 Mar. 2016)
According to sources, the collected information is stored by the DMP in the CIMS database (Dhaka Tribune 30 Jan. 2019; Business Standard 15 June 2019; The Daily Star 16 June 2019) since 2016 (The Daily Star 16 June 2019; Business Standard 15 June 2019).
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a junior associate from a Dhaka multi-disciplinary law firm, including tenant and landlord issues, stated that registration of tenants in the CIMS is mandatory (Junior Associate 8 Jan. 2020). According to sources, following the 2016 Dhaka café attack by Islamic militants [1], the DMP arrested the landlords of the perpetrators for failing to register information about their tenants (Reuters 16 July 2016; VOA 17 July 2016).
Sources report that the DMP conducted information collection as part of a "Citizen Information Collection Week (CICW)" in June 2019 in response to perceived threats of terrorism or militancy (Dhaka Tribune 15 June 2019; The Daily Star 16 June 2019). During CICW [or CIMS week (Business Standard 15 June 2019)] (15-21 June 2019), Dhaka's 50 police districts were subdivided into 302 beats, where police officers went door-to-door to verify or collect residents' information for inclusion in the CIMS database (Business Standard 15 June 2019; Dhaka Tribune 15 June 2019). Following that week and the launch of a CIMS mobile app [2] that allows citizens to input tenant registration information, the number of citizens registered in the CIMS was over 7.2 million as of September 2019 (bdnews24.com 9 Sept. 2019; Dhaka Tribune 9 Sept. 2019). Information on whether there are tenant registration (or tenant verification) systems outside Dhaka could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2. Information Security
2.1 Information Sharing
The Junior Associate stated that "[i]nformation collected in CIMS is not shared with other entities" (Junior Associate 8 Jan. 2020). Conversely, according to a project overview by Bangla Trac, the software provider of CIMS, a feature of CIMS is the ability to verify National Identity Cards (NID) with the Bangladesh Election Commission (Bangla Trac n.d., 14, 19). According to the Bangla Trac report, "[d]ifferent level[s] of application security [are] ensured for DMP authorized users. For example: A user from one Thana can't access data from [an]other Thana" (Bangla Trac n.d., 19). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2.2 Information Protection
Odhikar, a Bangladesh human rights organization, stated the following in a 2016 report:
In 2015 the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) decided to collect information about all tenants of the Dhaka City. In the beginning of 2016, this task commenced and forms were distributed to all tenants from every police station asking for their information. Though it says confidentiality will be maintained about information forms, this work had been carried out by shops that run the business of composing documents on computer. Even the password of the DMP's Citizen Information Management System's Server, which was created to preserve citizens' information, was given to these shops. It is to be mentioned that businessmen of various photocopy and computer compose shops in the city corporation market at Nilkhet, were filling out the forms collected for the New Market Police Station. This is an outright violation to the right to privacy. … Furthermore, citizens are under serious threat as information of all tenants in Dhaka city is being collected and entered into a database through computer composition shops. It is believed that there is a possibility to misuse fingerprints and bio-data of all citizens, which may be used for purpose of harassment and persecution. (Odhikar 1 Nov. 2016, para. 28, 30)
Similarly, the Dhaka Tribune reported the following:
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua filed a petition in March 2016 seeking a ban on the move, arguing that police had no legal jurisdiction to ask for personal information of any innocent citizen. The petition was rejected.
Jyotirmoy said there is no law for data protection in Bangladesh, which is why it is unclear as to what citizens can do if their personal information is leaked or misused.
"The papers that police used to collect the data were later found in Nilkhet, where computer shops were used to compile and compose the data. This makes us concerned about our privacy," he told the Dhaka Tribune. (Dhaka Tribune 30 Jan. 2019)
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Notes
[1] On 1 July 2016, there was an armed attack and hostage taking by five Islamic militants at a café in Dhaka that resulted in 22 deaths (BBC 27 Nov. 2019).
[2] The mobile app is currently available from Google Playstore (with planned availability from Apple); it allows citizens to enter their information and have it approved by the police (bdnews24.com 9 Sept. 2019; Dhaka Tribune 9 Sept. 2019).
References
Bangla Trac. N.d. Group Profile. [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
bdnews24.com. 9 September 2019. "DMP Launches Mobile App for Citizen Info." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
bdnews24.com. 2 March 2016. Kamal Hossain Talukder. "Police's Drive to Collect Tenants' Info Evokes Mixed Reaction." [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 27 November 2019. "Holey Artisan Cafe: Bangladesh Islamists Sentenced to Death for 2016 Attack." [Accessed 24 Jan. 2020]
Business Standard. 15 June 2019. "DMP Launches Door-to-Door Data Collection Drive." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
The Daily Star. 16 June 2019. "Citizens' Info: DMP Starts Going Door to Door." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
Dhaka Tribune. 9 September 2019. Arifur Rahman Rabbi. "DMP Chief: Info on Tenants Helped Eradicate Militant Dens in Dhaka." [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]
Dhaka Tribune. 15 June 2019. Arifur Rahman Rabbi. "DMP Chief: Police to Go Door-to-Door for Intelligence Information." [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]
Dhaka Tribune. 30 January 2019. Syed Samiul Basher Anik and Arifur Rahman Rabbi. "Citizen Database Not an End in Itself." [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]
Junior Associate, Dhaka. 8 January 2020. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Odhikar. 1 November 2016. "Human Rights Monitoring Report: October 1-31, 2016." [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]
Reuters. 16 July 2016. Serajul Quadir. "Bangladesh Police Arrest Four Who Rented Property to Cafe Attackers." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
Voice of America (VOA). 17 July 2016. "Bangladesh: Professor Arrested for Leasing to Cafe Attackers." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2020]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Ain o Salish Kendra; Article 19; Asian Human Rights Commission; Bangla Trac; Bangladesh – Access to Information, Election Commission, high commission in Ottawa, National Human Rights Commission; Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements; Dhaka – Dhaka Metropolitan Police; Odhikar; SAARC Human Rights Foundation.
Internet sites, including: Australia – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Bangladesh – Election Commission, National Portal, Supreme Court; The Daily Observer; Dhaka – Dhaka Metropolitan Police; Dhaka Courier; ecoi.net; EU – European Asylum Support Office; Factiva; France – Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides; The Guardian; Human Rights Watch; UK – Home Office; UN – Refworld; US – Department of State; World Bank.