Human Rights Violations: Cooperation with UN led to reprisals
People in Bangladesh who cooperated with the UN on human rights issues have faced reprisals because of it, the UN said in a new report presented at the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday.
Bangladesh is one of the 42 countries where this trend was noticed in the past year, the report said.
"The reported reprisals may have a chilling effect and deter others from reporting on issues of public interest, including human rights, and from cooperating with the UN, its representatives, and mechanisms," said the report presented by Ilze Brands Kehris, assistant secretary-general for human rights.
"On December 30, 2021, the government announced that it was investigating 76 pending cases with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). However, between December 2021 and February 2022, authorities reportedly raided the homes of some victims' relatives and intimidated them," said the report.
"Mandate holders expressed concern that the reported intimidation may have been directed against relatives and human rights defenders for their cooperation with UN entities, including the WGEID," it said.
The report said the situation was such that on February 21, 2022, the group sent a letter to Bangladesh addressing allegations of intimidation and harassment of relatives of disappeared persons, human rights defenders and civil society organisations for their cooperation with the UN.
The letter was followed up by a public statement on March 14, 2022, in which they called on authorities to cease the reprisals, the report added.
The report also detailed the harassment of human rights organisations Odhikar, stating that representatives of some NGOs searching for victims of enforced disappearances and advocating for accountability were also allegedly affected.
It went on to say that Odhikar and its staffers continue to be under surveillance, which reportedly intensified after December 10, 2021.
"As of April 2022, Odikhar's bank accounts remain frozen and their application to the NGO Affairs Bureau for the renewal of its registration is pending (its registration was scrapped in June 2022). During the reporting period [May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022], Odhikar has continued to engage with the UN bodies and mechanisms, including by submitting information, statements, and communications to Special Procedures, in particular to the WGEID," said the report.
The report noted that when the body communicated about Odhikar to the government, they "reiterated their [Odhikar's] bias against the authorities and clarified that the administrative and legal action against the organisations was due to the corruption findings of an investigation."
"The government informed about its decision not to approve Odikhar's application for renewal of registration, for its failure to comply with applicable legislation, the lack of response to the objections in audit reports concerning projects funded with foreign donations and due to irregularities related to fee payments and VAT," the report said about the government's response.
The report also noted that the government is still carrying on a legal case against the organisation.
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