14 US Congressmen call for deployment of UN peacekeepers

Staff Reporter  :
Fourteen United States Congressmen have come forward with a united call for the deployment of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces during the forthcoming national elections in Bangladesh to unsure a free, fair and peaceful election.

They have sent the letter to the US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, requesting him to ensure the integrity and fairness of the electoral process in Bangladesh.

“The UN, in combination with impartial governments around the world, participates in supervising and conducting free and fair elections in Bangladesh. This should include the provision of peacekeeping forces to prevent intimidation, harassment, or assault of voters,” read the letter.

The letter was signed by Bob Good, Scott Perry, Anna Paulina-Luna, Josh Brecheen, Ralph Norman, Andrew Clyde, Eli Crane, Cory Mills, Paul A Gosar, Doug LaMalfa, Ronny L Jackson, Randy Weber, Brian Babin and Glenn Grothman.

Meanwhile, on the Congressmen, Bob Good on Thursday tweeted, “The people of Bangladesh deserve free and fair elections. I sent a letter to the US Ambassador to the UN with 13 of my colleagues, expressing concern over violence by the Bangladeshi government against peaceful demonstrators. “

On the other hand the letter said, “We stand with the people of Bangladesh who seek free and fair elections, and in end to the violence perpetrated by state authorities.”

Expressing concern in the beginning of the letter, they said, “We write to you today to express our concern with Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, and her government’s reported terrorizing, torturing, and even murdering of Bangladeshi citizens.”

“A large number of human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Reporters Without Borders, have documented human rights abuses by Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, including intimidation, assault, false imprisonment, torture, disappearance, and even extra-judicial killings,” it continues.

In addition, the UN human rights experts have repeatedly warned that Bangladesh is guilty of protracted persecution of journalists and human rights defenders. The particularly egregious alleged abuses by the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion also include torture, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings; demanding immediate condemnation, it read.

The letter also mentioned: In 2021, The United States sanctioned seven current or former officials of the RAB, including country’s police chief, Benazir Ahmed. However, these sanctions have not showed the Hasina government’s reported reign of terror, as the alleged government-instituted intimidation and violence has only increased.

Over the past six to eight months, thousands of peaceful and courageous protesters have demonstrated in support of free and fair elections. These demonstrations have often been met by violence, tear gas, and brutal assault by police, other state actors, and supports of Hasina, they wrote.

“Given its history of electoral fraud, violence, and intimidation we are highly skeptical that the Hasina government will permit fair and transparent election,” they said.

The US congressmen also urged that the UN should immediately suspend Bangladesh’s membership in the Human Rights Council until an impartial and transparent investigation into the various acts of violence Sheikh Hasina’s government has alleged to have committed against journalists and political opponents, it read.

“The UN Department of Peace Operations temporarily prevents any member of Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from deploying in UN peacekeeping operations until full and transparent investigations into their record on human rights abuses,” it said.

On 14 June, a group of six US congresspersons addressed a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the Biden administration to support the process of conducting free and fair elections in Bangladesh.

Prior to that, on 4 June, another six US Congressmen made serious accusations concerning human rights violations by the current Bangladeshi government. They called upon President Joe Biden to take appropriate measures to foster an environment conducive to free and fair parliamentary elections in the country.