Govt hid truth from int'l community

Odhikar, a rights organisation, in a joint statement with Asian Legal Resource Centre said the government hid facts about the human rights situation in the country from the international community and the UN at the second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) being held in Geneva.
The statement said Odhikar documents show that at least 539 people have been killed extra-judicially in the last four years and another 81 were victims of "forced disappearance". Not a single case has been credibly investigated.
But Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who leads the Bangladesh delegation, just repeated what she said at the first UPR in 2009 without corroborative facts or substantial evidence, the statement added.
In her opening speech, Dipu Moni said the government was sincere about implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, Sanjeeb Drong, defender of rights of indigenous people, told The Daily Star in a report sent from Geneva yesterday.
However, representatives from over 12 countries, including Canada, Australia and Thailand, raised concerns regarding rights and development of religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh.
“Indigenous people in the plain land are also deprived,” said Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Svend Olling in Geneva, added the report.
Meanwhile, a press release of the foreign ministry said Dipu Moni presented the bold steps the government took to protect rights of Bangladeshis.