The United Nations has moved to clarify outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s position on the human rights situation in Bangladesh.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the UN emphasised the spread of ‘misinformation’ on the issue, while explaining the context of her statement, reports bdnews24.com.
“We regret the misinformation,” it said.
The high commissioner extensively discussed her concerns about a wide range of human rights issues in her meetings with government, civil society and other interlocutors and in her end-of-mission statement in Dhaka, according to the UN.
“As the high commissioner had already extensively covered the human rights issues in Bangladesh, she chose to focus her Aug 25 end-of-mandate statement in Geneva on global issues [climate change, the food, fuel, finance crisis, civic space, etc] affecting all countries – including Bangladesh – as well as the Rohingya anniversary which was on the day itself.”
This was not meant to be a “global report”, the UN added.
“As the high commissioner said in her statement in Dhaka, ‘acknowledging the challenges is always the first step to overcoming them’ and the UN Human Rights Office stands ready to assist in following through on the recommendations made by the high commissioner, as well as other work towards promotion and protection of human rights in Bangladesh.”
Bachelet arrived in Bangladesh on a four-day visit on Aug 14. Speaking at a press conference in Dhaka on the last day of her visit, she addressed the human rights situation in Bangladesh and the need for discussions at both public and private forums.
These issues covered a large part of Bachelet’s speech at the press conference. Questions from journalists also centred around the UN’s stance on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
At the time, the former Chilean president called for an independent and specialised new agency to investigate allegations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Bachelet also said that various human rights organisations, including the United Nations Anti-Torture Committee, have expressed concerns over allegations of disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture in the last few years.
“Many of these allegations are against the Rapid Action Battalion and there are concerns about the alleged lack of accountability for such human rights abuses,” she said.
Bachelet added that she expressed “deep concern” over the issue to ministers and called for an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into the allegations of human rights abuses.
She held her final press conference as UN human rights chief in Geneva on Aug 25, a week after leaving Dhaka.
There, Bachelet discussed the global human rights situation as a whole, without mentioning Bangladesh separately.
Law Minister Anisul Huq and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan later expressed their position on the matter, citing Bachelet’s press conference.
Khan referred to the high commissioner for human rights and said the UN did not express any concern about Bangladesh in terms of human rights or any other issues.
When asked about BNP’s complaints about it, he said, “We’ve always said the BNP looks to stir unrest in various ways. These usually have no basis.”
“The UN high commissioner for human rights has not raised any concerns about human rights in our country.”
Asked about Bachelet’s statement in Geneva, Law Minister Huq said on Sunday, “When she came [to the country], human rights and other groups, who claim that our citizens’ human rights are being violated in Bangladesh, also wanted to meet her. They met and spoke.”
“And she made her statement after taking everything into account.”
