Volker Turk arrives tomorrow to discuss rights situation with govt

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk is set to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow to discuss the updates on Bangladesh’s human rights situation in the aftermath of the political changeover.
The possibility of opening an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) here will also be discussed.
During the two-day visit, he is scheduled to hold meetings with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, Law Adviser Prof Asif Nazrul, Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, as well as a group of students from the University of Dhaka.
Turk is arriving in Dhaka days after the completion of a visit by the UN Fact-Finding Mission that investigated the human rights violations and abuses in the context of the July-August uprising.
The five-member mission will submit a report and put forward recommendations for the Bangladesh authorities to hold the responsible accountable.
“Volker Turk is likely to take stock of the progress in terms of human rights in Bangladesh after the political changeover,” said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A UN official said the UN does not care about which regime is in power. The rights violations and abuses that have taken place since the fall of Awami League will also come under the purview of Turk’s visit, they added.
“There were incidences of mob justice, and there are questions about those,” the official said.
Volker Turk will propose setting up an office of OHCHR during his meeting. Whether or not such an office will be allowed to be set up in Bangladesh will depend on how the discussion goes in Dhaka, said officials concerned.
“This is not a new proposal. The UN spoke about this in previous years too. But the previous government was reluctant about it,” an official said.
Usually, the OHCHR sets up its offices in countries where the human rights situation is grave. The situation in Bangladesh is not like that. Human rights are also sometimes used as a political tool against certain countries, he added.
OHCHR has offices in 18 countries and stand-alone offices, including in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Liberia, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, Palestine, the Syrian Arab Republic (based in Beirut), Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen.
The UN Human Rights chief will also discuss media freedom and the implementation of the UN recommendations regarding the Cyber Security Act.
Turk is set to meet the chief justice, the army chief and heads of several reform commissions, said a statement of OHCHR.
He is also expected to address an event at Dhaka University and meet with students involved in the recent movement.
The rights chief is set to hold meetings with the UN agencies and members of diplomatic missions in Bangladesh.
He will hold a news conference in Dhaka on October 30.