The interim government on Sunday approved a draft memorandum of understanding in principle regarding establishing an office of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country to strengthen cooperation in dealing with human rights issues.
The council of advisors of the interim government at a meeting, chaired by chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, approved the draft of the MoU in principle regarding setting up an office of the OHCHR, said law adviser Asif Nazrul at a briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.
Noting that the OHCHR submitted a very important report on the genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising, he said 鈥極ur government has been in discussion with them for long.聽 There has been significant progress in the discussions.鈥�
He said that the advisers would further examine the draft and the final text of the draft would be sent to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T眉rk.
Once they (UN side) agreed, he said, they hoped to sign the MoU soon as possible and based on the signed MoU, an office would be established in Bangladesh, primarily for three years.
He said that if the two sides thought renewal was necessary, renewal of the MoU could be considered.
鈥業f in the future, and even if during our government鈥檚 tenure, serious human rights violations occur, we hope that the state鈥檚 human rights agencies as well as the local office of the OHCHR will be able to play an important role,鈥� he said.
A milestone was the interim government鈥檚 invitation to the OHCHR for an independent fact-finding mission following the July unrest, he mentioned.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission last year submitted a report on the human rights violations highlighting the events of July and August last year.
The report said that about 1,400 people were killed during the July uprising and in the aftermath.
The interim government earlier agreed with the UN on establishing the UN human rights office in Dhaka for further investigations into human rights violations during the student-led mass uprising that overthrew the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
The UN fact-finding mission in its report published on February 12 this year said that the Hasina regime and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with Awami League, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during the student-led protests.
During his visit to Dhaka in October 2024, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T眉rk, in a meeting with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, expressed his willingness to strengthen their presence in Bangladesh.
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, according to the OHCHR.
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.