Govt says, allegations of enforced disappearances investigated
Almost all allegations of enforced disappearances have been reported to the UN Committee of Experts of the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of the Bangladesh government.
At the same time, it has been said that if a person is reported missing, the information given by the relatives is subject to proper investigation as the government is determined to rescue the victim.
On behalf of Bangladesh it is also said that the return of the people suspected of the victims of enforced disappearances proved these allegations are not right.
This statement was made by the government of Bangladesh after presenting the latest report of the Expert Committee on Disappearances Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance at the 51st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday morning.
Bangladesh mission's second secretary Abdullah Al Farhad gave the speech on behalf of the permanent representative.
In that session, among non-governmental human rights organisations, Asian Legal Resources Center expressed concern about the role of governments in various countries regarding disappearances.
It was said that the government is imposing threat to the families of the disappeared after the visit of former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michel Bachelet to Dhaka last month.
The representative of the organisation, MD Ashrafuzzaman, said about Bangladesh apart from other two countries of South Asia- Sri Lanka and India- that human rights workers and relatives of expatriate journalists are being harassed.
The report presented by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Disappearances to the Human Rights Council yesterday showed that there has been an increase in complaints of disappearances in Bangladesh. From 22 May last year to 13 May this year, the number of missing persons' complaints in Bangladesh that came to the committee in one year stood at 88, which was 76 earlier.
The report said, during that period the Bangladesh government has given the Committee of Experts significant amount of data about eight people. The report also said there is no solution to the complaints of 81 disappearances.
However, which information the Bangladesh government has given to the committee about the complaints is not revealed. It is not also revealed whether the 'sufficient information' the Bangladesh government has given is appropriate or not.
The government's comments at the Human Rights Council on various occasions have said that there is a tendency among some interest groups to label all cases of disappearances as 'enforced disappearances' to harm the government. Therefore, the expert committee has been called upon to verify the facts and evidence of the complaints.
The government also said that a trend is being observed of 'criminals' impersonating members of the law enforcement agencies and committing crimes like 'kidnapping'.
The government continues to follow a policy of 'zero tolerance' towards misdeeds, crimes or transgressions by any law enforcement personnel. It is said that Bangladesh has never deviated from the international obligations of human rights, and the government is working constructively with the working group.
A written complaint to committee is also sent by the organisation of the family members of the disappeared called “Mayer Dak.” These letters showed some examples of how the victims' families faced threats and harassment on different times. They also mention how the pictures of some female organisers of Mayer Dak is wrongly used for character assassination in social media.
Coordinator of Mayer Dak, Sanzida Islam told this correspondent that on Monday in Mymensingh a person identifying himself as officer of detective branch of police took images, NID cards, phone numbers and other information of the family members of Mazharul Islam who disappeared on 2013.
On the same day in Jashore, an enforced disappearance victim, an Awami League activist Sayed's mother is summoned to the special office of police to keep a copy of her NID and she was asked to sign in a white paper. She, however, did not sign.
Many families of victims raised same sorts of complaints earlier. Then the government said, “ The family members are being connected to gather information that will help investigations. But the families have been complaining of intimidation and harassment rejecting the government's claim."
The 128th meeting of the Expert Committee of UN commenced on Monday and it is supposed to continue till first week of the next month. In that closed door meeting 700 cases of 21 countries including Bangladesh are supposed to be reviewed.