Bangladesh has conveyed to visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet that there is no “enforced disappearance” and no restrictions on media freedom and civil society in the country.
While talking to reporters after his meeting with Bachelet at State guesthouse Padma, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the UN rights chief did not raise the issue of extrajudicial killings or enforced disappearance but the Bangladesh side raised it on its own.
“They (UN side) did not raise the issue of extrajudicial killings. They (UN) were informed that some people had been killed. We said we’ll definitely investigate if there is any such information,” he said, adding that he did not hear about any such incident in recent days but there were such cases in 2002-2003.
Momen referred to an open letter to the UN rights chief by David Bergman, Editor of Netra News (English) and said they (Bergman and others) are very unhappy and going through some kind of mental pain.
UN Secretary General Michelle Bachelet has been briefed by Bangladesh's foreign minister Abdul Hossain Momen about the UN's efforts to protect and promote human rights in the country. Momen said the perception of restrictions on media freedom is not true, adding: "I see the media is very strong here."
The top executive of the UN Human Rights body will also have the opportunity to interact with the forcibly displaced Rohingya people during her trip to Cox’s Bazar, through which she would be equipped with concrete information to press hard the agenda for their repatriation to the ancestral homeland - Rakhine State of Myanmar, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bachelet arrived in Dhaka on Sunday morning on a four-day visit as Bangladesh continues “constructive dialogue” with her for the promotion and protection of human rights.
Before her arrival in Dhaka, the government strongly rejected what it said were the visible "politically motivated efforts" of some corners to mislead the people by showcasing the visit of the UN High Commissioner as an occasion to "put undue pressure" on the government.
"The government of Bangladesh firmly believes that politicization of the human rights agenda never helps in promoting and protecting human rights," it said in a statement.
She will also join an interactive session on "New Frontiers of Human Rights: Climate Justice in Perspective" with young scholars at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.
Bangladesh hopes the chief of the UN human rights mechanism will witness herself how the country is doing miracles to keep on track their development journey, integrating human rights into it. The visiting UN high commissioner remains well aware of Bangladesh's achievements in the human rights domain, including through the treaty-body reporting as well as through other mechanisms, Bangladesh said.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, no one in the country has died of starvation, said the government, adding: "No one is getting killed either in shopping malls, schools or worship places in Bangladesh.”