Progress in implementing UPR recommendations unsatisfactory

Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRFB) Convenor Sheepa Hafiza yesterday said the government’s progress in implementing different recommendations in last one year of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) -- a process that monitors human rights records of a country -- was not satisfactory.

It is not clear how the ministries are coordinating and how the government is working to implement the recommendations made at UPR, Sheepa said while speaking at a seminar in the capital.

The forum, a coalition of 20 human rights organisations, arranged the seminar on “One year of UPR 2018: Where we stand now”.

Speakers at the seminar said United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in May 2018 reviewed human rights situation of Bangladesh in the last four years.

In the review, different countries made 251 recommendations. In September that year, Bangladesh accepted 178 recommendations and rejected or noted the rest.

Supreme Court senior lawyer ZI Khan Panna, at the programme, said possibilities of unhealthy politics rise due to shrinking space for practicing political rights and citizens’ rights. “This is an ominous sign,” he said.

The seminar also recommended formulation of a national work plan with deadline on implementation  of the accepted recommendations and holding discussions with experts and  civil society members while formulating the work plan.

It also recommended engaging lawmakers in the process and discussion at parliament.

Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, Manusher Jonno Foundation Executive Director Shaheen Anam, honorary Executive Director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust Sara Hossain, among others, spoke at different sessions of the daylong seminar.

The Universal Periodic Review is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a state-driven process, under the UNHRC, which provides the opportunity for each state to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.

The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations, wherever they occur.