The United Nations has expressed deep concern over the recent violences in Bangladesh and emphasised the importance of investigating these incidents in a transparent and credible manner.
The UN secretary-general’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, came up with the statement while addressing a press briefing on Wednesday.
Referring to the recent violences, a journalist said the business leaders informed prime minister Sheikh Hasina that an abandoned political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, tried to overthrow the democratic movement using the quota reform movement as a shield. He asked if the UN secretary general had any observation in this regard.
In response, Dujarric reiterated the UN's stance on peaceful demonstrations and accountability for violence. “We have been extremely clear in expressing our concern about what is happening in Bangladesh, about the mass arrests, the killings we have seen.”
He said it is very important that people demonstrate peacefully and that the authorities guarantee that right for peaceful demonstration, since it is a right enshrined in international human rights covenants.
Calling for fair and credible investigations, he said, “All acts of violence should be investigated in a transparent and credible manner. People need to be held to account, but there needs to be the creation of an environment that is conducive to dialogue.”
He said they have seen demonstrations recently in different parts of the world, with young people expressing the frustration at the state of the world, at their future, expressing their frustration at institutions, and the responsiveness of institutions.
“What is critically important is that wherever these demonstrations occur, people are allowed to demonstrate peacefully without fear of arrest, without fear of being wounded or worse,” he mentioned.
Another journalist asked about the implications in Bangladesh’s role in UN peacekeeping missions against the backdrop that the security forces in Bangladesh, including the army, had been given a shoot-on-sight order by the ruling prime minister and it resulted in the killing of students.
Dujarric acknowledged the UN’s concern regarding the use of live ammunition against demonstrators and said these concerns had been communicated to Bangladeshi authorities both publicly and privately.
On the implications in UN peacekeeping missions, the spokesperson pointed to the UN’s screening policy for personnel, saying, “The policy on human rights screening for UN personnel places primary responsibilities on member states to ensure that the personnel they nominate for deployment have not been involved in past violations of international humanitarian or human rights law, or have never been repatriated from a UN operation.”
He continued, “We obviously remain engaged with the national authorities on this issue, and we want to ensure that all measures are being taken to comply with the requirements of our human rights policy.”