Awami League comments on UN Secretary General António Guterres’ visit to Bangladesh

• Demands the UN’s Human Rights agency investigates ongoing human rights violations
• Plea comes as lawlessless takes hold in Bangladesh, with revenge violence and attacks on minorities and women’s rights going unpunished by Muhammad Yunus’s unelected government
• Deep concern also expressed for Rohingya refugees, to whom deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provided shelter

Awami League issues the following statement related to UN Secretary General António Guterres’ visit to Bangladesh:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ visit to Bangladesh this week is a critical reminder of the importance of protecting those persecuted because of their religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.

Yet, almost eight years since Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government opened its doors to welcome over 700,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing brutal oppression in Myanmar, persecution persists in Bangladesh. This is not just against the Rohingyas – who have seen their food rations halved just this week by the UN’s World Food Program – but against Hindus, Christians, indigenous peoples living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, women and girls, lawyers and journalists.

As the UN Secretary-General visits Bangladesh for the first time since the Interim Government assumed power, Mr Guterres must observe for himself the vital need for a further and truly impartial investigation into the oppression and disorder that has been allowed to take root under Dr Muhammad Yunus’ tenure since August 5.

In its recent report from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN painted a one-side and incomplete picture of a country in turmoil. A country where revenge violence has been allowed to proliferate with total impunity, where victims of violent crimes are deprived of their right to seek justice, where religious and ethnic minorities live in fear, and where the principles of press freedom and fair trial have been eroded.

Bangladesh today has descended into lawlessness. Violence, disorder and state-tolerated destruction abound, while the authorities and security forces turn a blind eye, focusing instead on their ideological pursuit of any democratically dissenting voices they have characterised as ‘devils’.

The UN acknowledges for itself a critical flaw in the timeframe of its initial investigation, which is woefully confined to the events leading up to August 15. Today, the Awami League calls once again for a new and fully independent investigation of the violence, persecution and mob rule that have become established since August 5 to help address the urgent concerns of the Bangladeshi people, whose lives continue to be blighted by waves of crime.

Bangladesh cannot hope to return to its previously prosperous path and be considered a true multi-party democracy while its current government authorises the killing and unlawful detention of supporters of the Awami League and seeks to downplay the violent attacks that have targeted religious and ethnic minorities.

Mr Guterres must use this visit to hold the Yunus administration to account for the human rights abuses it has facilitated and ensure his offices conduct a fair examination of all the evidence before them, unclouded by partisan political beliefs. Accordingly, the Awami League also calls upon the Secretary General to establish a permanent OHCHR mission in Bangladesh, tasked with investigating present-day and ongoing abuses.

The Awami League is also deeply concerned by indications from the U.N World Food Programme that it intends to cut by more than half the value of food vouchers given to Rohingya refugees to just US$6 per person per month from April 1. Notwithstanding funding cuts to U.N budgets, this would be a completely unacceptable decision: a betrayal of some of the world’s neediest and most victimized people, and a betrayal too of Bangladesh’s persistent efforts to help them.

Mr Guterres must demonstrate good faith to Bangladesh. He must take the opportunity provided by his visit to Dhaka to reassure the country’s people that U.N. agencies will fight for their most urgent interests, and provide adequate resources to support the humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees.

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Under Yunus, persecution is rife in Bangladesh. This is not just against Rohingya refugees but against Hindus, Christians, indigenous peoples, women and girls, lawyers and journalists.