Human rights violators will be brought to book: Law minister

Mentioning that the incumbent government is working in all ways to establish, protect and develop human rights, law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Anisul Huq said on Saturday that the human rights violators would be brought to book, reports UNB.

"Those who violate human rights will be brought under the law of justice," he said, while addressing a discussion organised by the National Human Rights Commission at a city hotel in Dhaka on the occasion of Human Rights Day 2022 as the chief guest.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on December 10 every year.

The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"The government's stance on human rights violators is very clear. Those who violate human rights in Bangladesh will be prosecuted under the law," Anisul Haque said.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who spent his entire life for the establishment and protection of human rights, was brutally killed with most of his family members on 15 August, 1975, through the domestic-foreign conspiracy.

"It was the most heinous and extreme violation of human rights in the history of the world," the law minister added.

He further said, “The horror of this human rights violation was made more terrible by the 'Indemnity Ordinance' that protected the killers from being brought to justice for 21 years. The killers were even rewarded and the major countries of the world gave shelter to them.”

Some of the convicted killers are still at large in some major countries, he said, adding that although bringing them back has become very difficult, the government is trying to bring them to book.

“It has been possible to prosecute major human rights violations, including those involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu, the assassination of four national leaders and crimes against humanity committed during the liberation war in 1971, only due to the good policy and strong position of the government,” he said.

As a result, the culture of injustice has been removed from the country and the image of the country in the international arena has been brightened, the minister added.

He also mentioned that Bangladesh has become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) four times.

Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Kamal Uddin Ahmed presided over the meeting while a full-time member of the commission Md Salim Reza and secretary of the legislative and parliamentary affairs Department Moinul Kabir also spoke.