DHAKA, Feb 15, (V7N) –The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has said that the ousted Bangladesh regime appeared to have made coordinated efforts to suppress the truth about human rights violations during the July-August uprising, rather than taking even minimal steps to ensure accountability for those responsible.
"Between 1 July and 5 August 2024, OHCHR was unable to identify any genuine efforts by the authorities of the former government to investigate, let alone ensure accountability for, any of the serious violations and abuses committed by security forces and Awami League supporters," the report said.
"In some cases, police also took victims' bodies from hospitals, hid them from families, or burned them in an apparent effort to conceal the killings," OHCHR said in its fact-finding report.
Last week, the UN organ released a report titled Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh.
According to the report, OHCHR also received information about police and RAB units being given unrecorded allotments of ammunition so that their extensive use of firearms would not be reflected in official expenditure accounts.
The report noted that former senior officials confirmed that, during that period, no investigations were conducted into the security forces' use of firearms, and allegations of torture and serious ill-treatment were not investigated either.
The former officials claimed that no victim complaints were received due to the pressing security situation prevailing at the time.
However, OHCHR pointed out that numerous reports detailing alleged violations were published by credible local and international media, as well as human rights groups, which should have provided ample cause to open investigations on their own initiative.
The report said: "Rather than taking steps towards ensuring accountability, the authorities appear instead to have made coordinated efforts to suppress the truth about violations that had occurred."
The UN rights body reported that agents of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI), police's Detective Branch, and other police units maintained a presence at hospitals where many victims were treated, confiscating records with important evidentiary value.
The report further revealed that police and other authorities intimidated victims, their families, lawyers, journalists, and others who called for accountability or otherwise drew attention to killings by security forces.
"Regarding certain high-profile cases of killings, DGFI agents called or personally visited victims' families and their lawyers in an effort to intimidate them," OHCHR reported.
Moreover, the authorities sought to conceal violations by the security forces by falsely accusing others.
The report cited the case of Abu Sayeed, where hundreds were wrongly accused or arrested, despite widely circulated video footage and other evidence clearly indicating that police had killed him.
OHCHR also highlighted that the former prime minister and other senior officials made public statements falsely accusing BNP or Jamaat-e-Islami members of killings and injuries inflicted upon protesters, despite evidence showing that security forces were responsible.
The report said that Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry claimed to have forwarded concerns from the international community to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Home Affairs Ministry, and the Information Ministry regarding human rights violations.
The former, now fugitive, foreign minister claimed that he personally briefed the then prime minister about concerns raised by foreign and international leaders.
Additionally, another senior official personally raised concerns about excessive force during a meeting with the prime minister at the beginning of August.
The report noted that, on July 17, the then prime minister announced the establishment of a judicial inquiry headed by three judges, while simultaneously blaming all incidents on "opposition instigators" and "terrorists."
The report said: "The inquiry was assigned to investigate the ‘incidents of death, violence, vandalism, arson, looting, terrorist activity, and damages caused by the quota reform movement,’ suggesting an exclusive and one-sided focus on the acts of protesters alone, while neglecting the much more widespread violence perpetrated by security forces."
However, OHCHR reported that a former senior government official, along with another official, confirmed that this judicial inquiry never issued any interim reports or findings.
Furthermore, when it ceased functioning on August 5, no records of its activities were left behind.
The National Human Rights Commission, within its own mandate, also failed to hold authorities accountable for human rights violations and to protect victims.
Instead, it merely issued a vague statement on July 30, describing the loss of life as "very unfortunate and a violation of human rights," while urging authorities not to make mass arrests.Numerous reports detailing alleged violations were published by credible local and international media, according to OHCHR.
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