Amnesty urges French President to raise human rights concerns with Bangladesh

Staff Reporter :
Ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron in Dhaka, the Amnesty International (AI) has called on him to raise human rights concerns with Bangladesh government.

In a tweet on Friday, AI said, “Ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Bangladesh this week, Amnesty International urges President Macron to raise human rights concerns with Bangladeshi government, including the implementation status of the recommendations France made to Bangladesh in the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle.”

Apart from this, Amnesty has highlighted four critical issues which are repressive laws, extrajudicial execution, crackdown on freedoms and persecution of activists.

“The Cyber Security Act has replaced the Digital Security Act while retaining all the repressive features, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances still continue, authorities continue to crackdown on the right freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and organisations such as Odhikar and activists who speak out on human rights violations continue to be persecuted,” read the tweet.

It has further reminded that their UPR submission on Bangladesh includes comprehensive analysis and recommendations in ways that Bangladeshi authorities should take action to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in the country.

Amnesty has also pointed out French position in the last UPR saying “During previous UPR cycles, France had called on Bangladesh to promptly implement the accepted recommendations on: Extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and against torture, Freedom of expression and security of human rights defenders.”