Bangladesh wants UN on its side to prevent violence

Bangladesh wants the United Nations (UN) to stand by the country not only in the investigation over the July-August movement and uprising but also in finding out the causes of past and latest violence and preventing such occurrences in future. The interim government too wants to take necessary measures on the recommendations of the UN.

Chief advisor of the interim government Dr. Muhammad Yunus made this request in a letter sent to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk this week. The letter sought help from the United Nations for investigations into the human rights violations during the quota reform movement, student-people uprising and post-uprising times from 1 July to 15 August.

Diplomatic sources at Geneva and Dhaka told this Prothom Alo on last Thursday the UN fact-finding mission might visit in Dhaka in September.

The Sheikh Hasina government was ousted by the student-people movement on 5 August, followed by the formation of an interim government on 8 August. The interim government has been vocal about upholding all human rights since the beginning. Meanwhile, Bangladesh signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomed the country for the move.

Before this, the interim government officially requested the UN to ensure credible and transparent international investigations into the use of force cantering the movement and uprising. The chief adviser to the interim government and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had a phone conversation over the matter. After that, an advance team of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) left Dhaka on Thursday after an eight-day visit.

A three-member UN advance team by Rory Mungoven, chief of the Asia-Pacific Region with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, arrived in Dhaka on 22 August.

Diplomatic sources in Geneva and Dhaka said the UN team held at least 40 meetings at various levels. The advance teams tried to learn about the citizens’ aspirations in the post-student-people uprising times, as well as the scope of UN involvement in the reform process of a democratic upgradation of Bangladesh.

The issue also came up at the briefing on the update on UN Human Rights Office work in Bangladesh by spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani in Geneva Friday. She said the UN advance team had meetings with student leaders of the recent protests, many of whom have been detained or injured in recent weeks, as well as a wide range of advisors in the interim government, the chief justice, senior officers of the police and armed forces, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, representatives of political parties, and minority and indigenous communities.

In its meetings, the team discussed the modalities for an investigation into human rights violations and abuses in the context of the recent violence and unrest, as requested by the Interim Government. It also discussed wider areas – including civic space, the need for truth, justice, healing, reparation and reconciliation, and other human rights approaches to the reform process – in which our Office could provide sustained support, she said.

Diplomatic sources said the advance team will file an overall scenario on the outcomes of their meetings in Dhaka. After that, the Office of the High Commissioner will evaluate it and send the fact-finding mission.

This week, the chief adviser to the interim government sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights while the UN advance team was in Bangladesh, requesting the UN to open an investigation within the shortest possible time.

According to government sources, the government wants to ensure accountability for the human rights violations during the quota reform movement, student-people uprising and post-uprising times from 1 July to 15 August through an impartial and independent fact-finding mission of the UN.

The government further thinks the brutality that was unleashed on people during that movement, uprising and post-uprising times did not happen in just a day. Why such brutality occurred, as well as its source must be found out through analysis of fact-findings. Recommendations will also have to be made to prevent such brutality. The interim government will take necessary steps based on the UN recommendations to ensure accountability for the past brutality and prevent such repetition in future.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani also mentioned the chief adviser’s letter. She said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has received an official invitation from the Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, to conduct an impartial and independent fact-finding mission into human rights violations committed from 1 July to 15 August.

The Office will deploy a fact-finding team in Bangladesh in the coming weeks, with a view to reporting on violations and abuses perpetrated during the protests, analysing root causes, and making recommendations to advance justice and accountability and for longer-term reforms. The team received commitments from the Interim Government and security forces for full cooperation in this work, she added.

Regarding this, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, advisor to the ministry of environment of the interim government, told Prothom Alo over mobile phone on Friday evening “Bangladesh does not seek UN cooperation on investigation only. They will discuss how to ensure such events are not repeated in the coming days and what we should do now to reform our security forces .”

This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna