UN fact-finding team to stay in Bangladesh for 1 month
The fact-finding team of the United Nations will stay in Bangladesh for one month to properly investigate how the Awami League government had tried to suppress the anti-discrimination student movement in the July-August period.
The team members will visit the eight divisional cities of the country and collect information from the victims, their family members and eye witnesses, reports Prothom Alo.
According to a source at the UN, two of the eight members of the fact-finding team are coming to Dhaka today (16 September). Another three members will reach Dhaka tomorrow (17 September), and start the official process of the investigation.
The rest will arrive in Dhaka within the next few days, the source told Prothom Alo.
Primarily, the fact-finding team will remain in Bangladesh for four weeks, and their stay might be extended if needed, multiple sources at the UN and the interim government confirmed.
The sources said the team will investigate a total of 15 types of crimes, including crimes against humanity and extrajudicial killing that happened during July and August.
The investigation report might be handed over to the interim government on the last week of November, the sources said.
When asked about the matter, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said, “The fact-finding team will investigate independently. They will stay for one month for this reason, and they will hand over the report to the government before publishing it before the public.
“Even if the government has any observation, it will not affect the investigation,” the adviser added.
According to several sources at the foreign ministry, UN’s Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk is sending the fact-finding team under his own jurisdiction following a request from the Chief Adviser of the interim government Dr Muhammad Yunus.
In a letter written to Turk on 25 August, Yunus had requested him to start the investigation immediately, writing that his government want to ensure accountability through an impartial investigation by the UN regarding the incidents of human right violation during quota reform movement and the subsequent anti-discrimination student movement.
When asked about the work process of the team, a senior UN official said, “The team members will visit the places where the incident of violence had taken place and collect information from there.”
The team will also consider the allegations of human rights violation and crimes committed by law enforcement agencies. The report will be based on primary evidence, autopsy reports, photos and videos.
The report will include details about what happened during the July uprising, and will recommend what can be done to prevent the repetition of such an incident, a high-ranking UN official said.
