NEW YORK: Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other rights groups have asked U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix to “publicly voice concerns” regarding rights abuses by Bangladesh’s security forces when he visits the country later this month, US media reported on Sunday.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix will visit the South Asian country on June 25-26 to attend a conference organized by Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
UN Peacekeeping Head Asked to Raise Human Rights Concerns in Bangladesh Tour
Bruno Stagno Ugarte, the chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, said Bangladesh’s security forces, especially the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), have long been involved in grave human rights violations in the country.
In a statement, Ugarte said that Jean-Pierre Lacroix should highlight that if Dhaka is to maintain its role as a contributor to peacekeeping forces, Bangladesh must appropriately apply the UN Human Rights screening policy.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), expressed fear there is a great risk that forces responsible for serious human rights violations in Bangladesh would be rewarded with a United Nations deployment.
Ganguly told the media that Jean-Pierre Lacroix should publicly voice concerns to guarantee suitable screening, especially if anyone has been part of the Rapid Action Battalion.
While the officials in Bangladesh deny that the country’s security forces were behind any human rights violations, in December 2021, the US imposed human rights-related sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion and six of its retired and then-serving officials, saying the security forces were responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country.
HRW advocacy officer said “Systematic human rights screening by the UN is applied only at officers which has limited purview over troops. Bangladesh’s fragile enforcement of the policy reinforces a message that serious rights violations will not prevent one from service under the United Nations flag, offering a moral threat for the U.N.,”.
Hong Kong-based Bangladeshi Human rights activist M Ashrafuzzaman said the UN top official is visiting Dhaka at a time when Sheikh Hasina’s government is “accused of committing serious and grave human rights violations for 15 years with complete impunity.”
“As a responsible senior official of the UN, Lacroix has a responsibility to pay respect to the International Bill of Human Rights. Lacroix should ensure that his U.N. portfolio is not being exploited by the Sheikh Hasina’s regime for strengthening her power and validating the gross human rights violations that the incumbent government is committing for retaining her illegal power. “It is a shame for the UN Peacekeeping Operations when they trust the assassins as peacekeepers.”