Amid barrage of queries, govt pledges to do more

Amid allegations of rights violations and volleys of questions on wide range of rights issues, Bangladesh has reiterated its commitment to making further efforts in realising the civil and political rights of its people.

Anisul Huq, minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, told the UN Human Rights Committee that the government will continue promoting human rights education and awareness to foster a culture where these rights are respected everywhere.

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A high level delegation led by Anisul participated in a dialogue with the committee members in Geneva. The two-day dialogue began on Monday.

During the review of Bangladesh's human rights record by the committee, its members asked the minister questions relating to the newly passed Child Marriage Restraint Act, allegations of extra-judicial killings, torture and abduction against law enforcement officials, and security of writers, bloggers and journalists.

They also wanted to know the status of investigation in the cases of writer and blogger killings; steps taken to stop child, forced labour and preventive detention; alleged use of force by police, allegations of torture, custodial death etc. Rights of religious and ethnic minorities, attacks on minorities and their places of worship also featured in the committee's questionnaire.

The UN panel also enquired about the Election Commission and the status of investigations and trials against the perpetrators of polls-time violence and other destructive activities.

According to a foreign ministry press release issued yesterday, questions relating to freedom of expression also covered a significant portion of the dialogue. The panel also requested information on the status of the Rohingya Muslims living in Bangladesh.

The dialogue was convened by the UN committee for consideration of Bangladesh's initial report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In response to the questions, officials said the law minister gave various statistics and mentioned that killing by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) reduced drastically in recent years. He said the number of deaths were 25 in 2014-2015 while the number was 261 in 2005-2006.

They said the UN committee members appreciated the minister for responding to almost all the questions.

On the first day of the public session, the minister provided a brief account of various statutory and practical measures taken by the current government for the implementation of ICCPR in the Bangladesh context.

“In our endeavour to establish a just society, we have always taken the international community, particularly the United Nations, as an essential partner. Our sincerity and commitment is evident in the fact that during the tenure of this government, we have twice been elected as member of Human Rights Council,” he said.

“During the tenure of this government, we have facilitated the visit of the special rapporteur on freedom of religion, thought and conscience and the special rapporteur on violence against women. We have also taken initiatives to clear the backlog of our periodic reports to the treaty bodies starting with the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights,” he added.

The committee appreciated Bangladesh for submitting its initial report on ICCPR, said the foreign ministry press release.

Terming the head of delegation's presentation as comprehensive, straight-forward and frank, the committee members thanked the Bangladesh delegation for engaging with the Human Rights Committee into this dialogue.

The law minister reiterated Bangladesh's commitment to making further efforts in realising the civil and political rights of its people irrespective of their age, sex and colour. 

Bangladesh acceded to ICCPR in 2000 during the first tenure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The initial report, however, was submitted by the Bangladesh government to the committee in June 2015.

The UN committee of 18 international independent experts is also reviewing the situation in Serbia, Turkmenistan, Italy, Thailand Bosnia and Herzegovina. The committee is hearing from NGOs and national human rights institutions. Its findings, officially termed concluding observations, on the countries reviewed, will be published on March 28.