‘UN must probe disappearances’
GOVERNMENT SHOULD END ITS DENIAL OVER ABDUCTIONS BY SECURITY FORCES, SAY BANGLADESH RIGHTS GROUPS
BANGLADESH’S government is in “denial” about systematic abductions by security forces, families of missing relatives said on Tuesday (30), during a protest demanding a UN probe into enforced disappearances.
Rights groups accuse security forces of unlawfully killing around 2,500 people since prime minister Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2009, many of whom were prominent opposition figures.
Hundreds more have been declared missing, with Swedenbased news portal Netra News in August reporting that some have been secretly detained for years in a previously unknown prison near a military base.
“We want immediate release of the detainees from secret detention cells,” said Sanijda Islam, a member of the Maayer Daak civil society group which represents families of the missing. “The authorities should stop the denial.”
Outgoing UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who visited Bangladesh last month, has urged the creation of an independent agency to investigate claims of enforced disappearances.
But at a rally in Dhaka, hundreds of people carrying photographs of their missing relatives urged the UN to conduct its own inquiry. “We want a strong investigation committee led by the UN,” said Khondoker Ayesha Khatun, whose son was allegedly abducted by security forces in 2016 and has not been seen since.
There was “overwhelming” evidence that authorities were involved in enforced disappearances and Bangladesh should allow a UN investigation, Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
“The Bangladesh government should stop feigning ignorance and work with the UN to provide urgent answers and effective accountability,” she added.
Last year the US imposed sanctions on the elite Rapid Action Battalion police unit, along with seven top security officers, over human rights violations.
The government denies the allegations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, with one minister saying that some of those who went missing had, in fact, fled Bangladesh.