United Nations resident coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis on Wednesday said that the UN would soon open its human rights office in Bangladesh as the process was already finalised.
鈥榃e have finalised the process to formally open a small office of the human rights council in Bangladesh,鈥� said the UN resident coordinator at a dialogue with the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
Responding to a question about the much-talked-about UN proposal for allowing a humanitarian corridor to the conflict-ridden Rakhine state of Myanmar through Bangladesh, she said that it was a legal issue requiring an agreement among all parties involved. The Bangladesh government and Myanmar government along with other parties concerned here will have to agree on providing the humanitarian corridor to Rakhine first. 聽
The UN could support only all parties concerned reached a legal agreement in this regard, Gwyn Lewis said and added that there was no such humanitarian corridor to Rakhine at present.
About the UN鈥檚 position on the next elections, she said they were extending technical support for free, fair and credible polls and also for transitional justice and reforms in various sectors.
She said that the people and political parties in the country would decide when the election would be held.
Responding to a question relating to the ban on Awami League activities and inclusive elections, she said that the election could be inclusive if people from all segments of the society could cast their votes freely.聽聽
She said that people鈥檚 participation was the key determinant of inclusivity of an election.聽
She, however, said that the participation and inclusion of all political parties would help prevent a 鈥榩otentially polarised situation鈥�. 聽
Regarding the Rohingya crisis since Bangladesh was hosting around 1.3 displaced people from Myanmar for around eight years, the UN official said that they were trying to find a political solution to the crisis for a safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation to their homeland.
DCAB president AKM Moinuddin and general secretary Md Arifuzzaman Mamun also spoke at the event titled 鈥楧CAB Talk鈥�.
The interim government earlier agreed with the UN on the establishment of the UN human rights office in Dhaka for further investigations into human rights violations during the student-led mass uprising that forced the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
The UN fact-finding mission in its report published on February 12 said that the Sheikh Hasina regime and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during the student-led protests.
During his visit in October 2024, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T眉rk in a meeting with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka expressed his willingness to strengthen their presence in Bangladesh.
After a similar meeting with Volker Turk, social welfare adviser Sharmeen S Murshid said on October 29, 2024 that an office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner would be established in Dhaka soon.
She said that the interim government agreed on it.
Asked for comment about the mandate and implication of the UN rights office, former foreign secretary and the president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, M Humayun Kabir, said that such UN offices usually work to prevent the recurrence of rights abuses as happened here during the July uprising.
Established in 2006, the Human Rights Council is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
UN Human Rights鈥� 18 country or stand-alone offices include 16 country offices in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Liberia, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, the State of Palestine, the Syrian Arab Republic (based in Beirut), Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen; one field-based structure in Seoul that covers the Democratic People鈥檚 Republic of Korea and the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
In establishing country offices and stand-alone offices, UN Human Rights negotiates with the host government a full mandate that includes human rights protection and promotion.
A mandate typically includes human rights monitoring and analysis, protection, interaction with and the provision of technical assistance to the host government, national authorities, civil society, victims and other relevant counterparts through targeted technical cooperation activities, capacity-building and public reporting, according to the UN rights office.