Hill Voice, 12 November 2023, International Desk: Twenty-five years since the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord was signed by the Bangladeshi government & the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti, militarisation of the region persists, violating the Accord.
In a report issued on Saturday (November 11), Amnesty International said that there have been at least five large-scale orchestrated attacks against Hindu minorities since 2019 that typically involve looting and then violent destruction ostensibly in response to a social media post, which would often turn out to be fake.
Amnesty also cited that UN Member states must use the UN’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Bangladesh to hold the authorities to account for the gross human rights violations and rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the country ahead of its general elections, said Amnesty International today.
It is worthy to be mentioned that the human rights situation in Bangladesh will be examined in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the fourth time in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 13, 2023. The United Nations Human Rights Council’s UPR reviews the human rights records of all member states of the organization once every four years. The UPR reviewed Bangladesh’s human rights record in 2009, 2013 and 2018.
In the report, Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for campaigns for South Asia mentioned that “Bangladesh’s fourth UPR is taking place at a time when human rights and critical institutions, opposition leaders, independent media houses and civil society are facing systematic attacks ahead of national elections. This assessment presents an important opportunity for UN Member States to scrutinize Bangladesh’s human rights records and to hold the authorities accountable for violations of their international human rights obligations and commitments.”
Amnesty also mentioned present state of Freedom of expression, Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, Freedom of peaceful assembly, Death penalty, Minority and refugee rights, etc. in its report.
