BD to sign international convention on enforced disappearances

City Desk :

Bangladesh has decided to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance soon.

The issue has been discussed in the meeting of the Advisory Council of the interim government.
The signing may take place before August 30, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters on Wednesday evening.

He said the interim government is committed to investigate each and every case of enforced disappearances. Shafiqul said a National Security Adviser will be appointed soon.

There is a discussion to form a commission to look into the cases of disappearances. The press secretary was briefing the reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.

Shafiqul said the government also wants to bring back laundered money, including from the UK. Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus sought support from British High Commissioner Sarah Cooke’s support in this regard. The high commissioner assured him of looking into it.

Earlier, the British high commissioner and Japanese ambassador separately met the chief adviser. Prof Yunus sought Japan’s financial support to rebuild Bangladesh.

He conveyed to both the envoys that Bangladesh is a big family and there is no enmity, and laid emphasis on greater harmony in the country. Both the envoys conveyed to the chief adviser that they stand ready to support the interim government.

Bangladesh authorities should accept the offer from the United Nations to support an independent commission of inquiry into enforced disappearances by the country’s security forces, Human Rights Watch said today on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The authorities repeatedly deny that Bangladesh security forces have committed enforced disappearances, instead repeating farcical claims that those missing are in hiding.

According to Bangladeshi human rights monitors, security forces have committed over 600 enforced disappearances since 2009.

While some people were later released, produced in court, or said to have died during an armed exchange with security forces, nearly 100 people remain missing. The government has refused to take up the offer from the United Nations to help establish a specialized mechanism to investigate allegations of enforced disappearances in line with international standards.

“Bangladesh authorities are fooling nobody by continuing to deny the reality of enforced disappearances, and instead are prolonging the suffering of families who are desperate to know the whereabouts of their loved ones,” said Julia Bleckner, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.