RAB makes tremendous progress in respecting rights: Donald Lu

Diplomatic Correspondent :
The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu on Monday said that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has made tremendous progress in performing its duties in terms of human rights.
Though Bangladesh had the major focus on the withdrawal of the sanctions on RAB imposed on 10 December 2021 for some gross violation of human rights, the US Assistant Secretary did not make any specific comment about it.
“We have quite a good discussion about the RAB. If you have seen this week’s statement by the Human Rights Watch, they recognised and we recognised tremendous progress in the area of reducing extrajudicial killings by the RAB,” Lu said. After holding a meeting with the Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Moment and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lu apprised the journalists of their discussion. “This is an amazing work. It shows that RAB is able to carry out its counterterrorism efforts and important functions while respecting human rights. We had a very honest and open discussion,” he said.
Giving good news on the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facilities, visiting US Assistant Secretary said that both the US and Bangladesh are working very closely with the issue.
“We have to wait for our congress to authorise GSP to any country. But we are working very closely with the government. So, when it gets authorised, the first country on the list would be Bangladesh,” he said.
About democracy and human rights, Lu said, “We have expressed our commitment to democracy and human rights. We will speak when we see problems and when we can offer suggestions.”
“We will stand up for freedom of speech, freedom of expression. And we look forward to working very closely with our partners here in Bangladesh,” he continued.
Lu also pointed out the labour rights issue, one of the major priority areas of the United States when it bears paramount importance for Bangladesh to carry out trade relationships with the US.
Mentioning his meeting with Prime Minister’s adviser Salman F Rahman, he said, “I had the honour of sitting down this morning with Salman F Raman to talk about labour rights issue and the area of cooperation for the improvement of labour rights in this country. I’m very confident we’re going to make progress this year.”
The meeting also discussed the US Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), which always draws a major focus for its geographical importance in this region as the big powers the US and Russia and the regional powers like China and India have their own interests.
 “It is just a strategy. It is not a club. Don’t join if you don’t want to. The United States has expressed its desire to allocate more resources, and more attention to the Indo-Pacific including to Bangladesh,” he said.
UNB adds: Participatory election, overall election process and Chittagong Hill Tracts issues were briefly discussed at a meeting over lunch with US Assistant Secretary of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu held at Foreign Service Academy on Sunday.
Awami League International Affairs Secretary Dr. Shammi Ahmed, Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed, Dr. Lailufar Yasmin, Dr. Delwar Hossain and Chief Executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Syeda Rizwana Hasan, among others, were present.
“They (US side) said, we don’t speak on behalf of any political party; we talk about certain processes and the rights of the people,” said Syeda Rizwana while talking to the reporters after the meeting.
She said only participation of the BNP and other parties and the election process were discussed and there was no further discussion on any other aspects of the election scenario in Bangladesh.
She mentioned that no BNP leader was present at the meeting.
According to a meeting source, two of the participants expressed optimism about the BNP’s participation in the next election.
“There was no conclusive discussion about human rights issues, but the Chittagong Hill Tracts issue was discussed during the meeting,” said Syeda Rizwana in response to another question.
The US senior official is visiting Bangladesh to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relationships, expand economic engagement, and go over the labor and human rights situation.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen hosted the lunch in honour of Donald Lu and his delegation members.