The United Nations Human Rights Council is set to launch a mission in Bangladesh for a three-year period. The two sides have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this end.
Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam signed the MoU on behalf of Bangladesh, while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk signed on behalf of the United Nations, reports Prothom Alo.
According to a statement issued today, Friday, from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office in Geneva, the MoU was signed earlier this week with the aim of promoting and protecting human rights in Bangladesh over a three-year period.
The statement notes that the UN’s engagement with Bangladesh has significantly increased since August of last year.
It further said, the Human Rights Council has been working with various stakeholders to advance reforms and conduct coordinated fact-finding missions, particularly concerning the violence during the recent mass uprising.
Volker Türk stated that this MoU sends a strong signal about the importance of safeguarding interim human rights protections in Bangladesh.
It will enable my office to better support the implementation of our fact-finding recommendations and help facilitate direct engagement and experience-sharing with the government, civil society, and experts, he added.
The new mission will provide training and technical assistance to government agencies to help fulfill national and international human rights commitments.
It will also work to enhance the capacity of both government institutions and civil society representatives.
