The United Kingdom has made three recommendations to Bangladesh in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the Human Rights Council.
Simon Manley, the UK's Permanent Representative to the WTO and UN, delivered a statement during Bangladesh’s review on Monday.
He said the United Kingdom welcomes steps taken by the government of Bangladesh to promote and protect human rights, as well as its continued hosting of nearly one million Rohingya.
“We look forward to a free, fair, participatory, and peaceful national election next year,” he said while giving the three recommendations.
The first recommendation is taking measures to guarantee a safe and transparent environment for civil society, human rights defenders and the media, ensuring that they can exercise their right to freedom of expression and assembly without fear of repercussions.
The UK delegation also asked the government to take steps to ensure the full independence of the judiciary from the Executive and Parliament.
The third and final recommendation from Simon Manley is to continue working with partners at all levels to protect the rights of women and girls, empowering them to fulfil their potential and lead a healthy life, free from gender-based violence.
The UPR of the United Nations Human Rights Council is a peer review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.
Established in March 2006 by the UN General Assembly in resolution 60/251, the UPR is designed to prompt, support, and expand the promotion and protection of human rights in every country.
Since the first periodic review in 2008, all 193 UN Member States have been reviewed three times. The fourth cycle of review began in November 2022, at the 41st session of the UPR Working Group. Bangladesh earlier faced the review in February 2009, April 2013, and May 2018.
After the review, Law Minister Anisul Haq, who led the country, said Bangladesh has been praised widely by the countries who participated in the review.
"You all may hear what they have said. 111 countries took part during the review of Bangladesh. More than 90% praised Bangladesh's progress," he had said after the review.
Slovakia, and Canada were critical of Bangladesh while the US, UK and Belgium raised the issue of general elections, he said.