Photo: Collected
The UN fact-finding mission has found evidence of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her associates committing serious human rights violations to suppress the mass uprising. The United Nations Human Rights Office is set to release a fact-finding report this afternoon (12 February) detailing human rights violations during Bangladesh's student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
The report will be presented at a press conference in Geneva by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. The UN's investigation indicates that security forces, including the police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and Special Branch employed excessive force against demonstrators.
They also engaged in extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate shootings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, enforced detention, and denial of medical treatment to protesters. In October 2024, High Commissioner Türk visited Bangladesh, emphasising the necessity for thorough investigations into the violence.
The UN team of the human rights commissioner visited several cities – Chattogram, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogura, Khulna, Sylhet, and Gazipur – where protests were most intense. During the investigation, the team conducted over 230 interviews. According to reports, they also interviewed 36 current and former officials from law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The report identifies several intelligence agencies and elite crime-busting units as being involved in human rights violations. Among them are the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI), National Telecommunication Monitoring Cell (NTMC), Detective Bureau (DB) of the police, Special Branch (SB) of the police, and the Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit.
The news conference will be streamed live on UN Web TV for those who want to listen in. The protests, which began in early July 2024 over public-sector job quotas, escalated nationwide, culminating in the ousting of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on 5 August.
Messenger/Tareq
