The UN has assured Bangladesh’s transitional government of technical support as it seeks to document the atrocities committed against protesters from some religious-political groups during the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, who took office after Hasina resigned and fled to neighbouring India last August following weeks of protests, said “there is a need for proper documentation of all atrocities committed against the people of this country. Unless this documentation is done, it is difficult to know the truth and ensure justice.”
Yunus was speaking to Gwyn Lewis, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, and Huma Khan, the Senior Human Rights Adviser at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Bangladesh, who called on him at the State Guest House Jamuna in the capital Dhaka.
Yunus called for documentation on the crackdown against protesters from Hefazat-e-Islam in Dhaka’s Motijheel area, police brutality against protesters after the verdict against Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami key leader and Islamic scholar Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and extrajudicial killings over the years.
On May 5-6, 2013, at least 61 people were killed, according to Odhikar, a local rights group, after law enforcement conducted a brutal crackdown to disperse hundreds of thousands of supporters of Hefazat-e Islam, a non-political Islamic group.
At least 78 people also died when supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sayeedi became embroiled in clashes with police in 2013 in an immediate reaction to a verdict by the International Crimes Tribunal against Sayeedi.
The jailed leader died last August in hospital.
The tribunal, however, was then criticised by global rights groups for not following fair trial standards.
Lewis said the UN was ready to provide technical support and help the people of Bangladesh build their capacity in documentation of the incidents.
“This is the process of healing and establishing truth,” she added. Lewis also informed Yunus that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, will brief the member states about its findings on March 5 during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council.
Fact-finding report
Earlier this month, Turk’s office published a fact-finding report that said around 1,400 people were killed, up to 13 percent of them children, during the mass protest last July-August at the hands of law enforcement.
The UN also brought crimes against humanity allegations against Hasina and her Awami League party.
Lewis also said at the meeting that every month, $15 million is needed just to ensure food supply for the Rohingya in Bangladesh along with other basic needs.
“We are very worried about the money situation,” she said.
Bangladesh has been hosting more than 1.2 million Rohingya in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district since they fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.
Lewis hoped that the upcoming visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Bangladesh will bring the Rohingya crisis back to global attention amid the dwindling aid supply.
Guterres will visit Bangladesh on March 13-16.
