90% countries in UN laud Bangladesh's HR progress: Law Minister

Ninety percent out of 111 countries, which took part at today's United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Bangladesh, lauded Bangladesh government's efforts in protecting human rights, law minister Anisul Huq said.

"Almost 90 percent out of 111 countries lauded our progress on human rights and made constructive recommendations," he said at a virtual press briefing after the review meeting in Geneva.

State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam also attended the briefing in person at the foreign ministry in Dhaka while foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen and Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva Mohammad Sufiur Rahman joined virtually from Geneva.

During the review meeting, the law minister said the USA and the UK also praised Bangladesh's progress in human rights. "No one criticized strongly over human rights situation in Bangladesh," he added.

However, the law minister said some countries inquired regarding Bangladesh's situation in holding a free and fair election.

"I reiterated Bangladesh government's commitment to hold a free, fair and violence free election in the country," he said.

The law minister, who led the Bangladesh delegation in Geneva, said he also apprised all about the Bangladesh government's efforts to support and strengthen the election commission while describing legal issues regarding holding the polls.

He also conveyed to the UN Human Rights Council that opposition party BNP's demand for holding polls under a caretaker government is completely unconstitutional and illegal.

In his remarks, Huq said that the government maintains a zero-tolerance policy against any human rights violation and highlighted the political space given to the opposition parties.

The minister also gave an explanation regarding current state of Khaleda Zia at the meeting. "I explained them the real and true situation regarding Khaleda Zia ... I also told them that now they (BNP) should go towards truth leaving behind all false," he said.

The law minister said no countries raised any question countering his any statement. "All the country had provision to raise counter questions ... but they didn't ... so I believe they didn't have any questions (to counter my statements)," he said.

He said that Dhaka would examine the recommendations made by the other countries and decide which to be taking under consideration in future. Huq also talked about the Rohingya crisis, noting that Bangladesh alone cannot resolve the crisis imposed by Myanmar.

The law minister highlighted the continued political stability and significant economic development in Bangladesh. The Law minister thanked the foreign ministry and Bangladesh mission in
Geneva to placed true facts and figures on Bangladesh's human rights situation.

"Later, they did the fact check and found those (Bangladesh human rights progress) correct," he said.

The state minister for foreign minister termed the Bangladesh's this year UPR as a success and congratulated the Bangladesh delegation to make it happen.

"It (UPR) is a continuous process ... there is no connection between UPR and Bangladesh elections," he said.

Bangladesh's first, second and third UPRs took place in February 2009, April 2013, and May 2018, respectively.

The UPR working group comprises the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council. However, each of the 193 UN member states can participate in a country review.

The UPR is a peer review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states. Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member states have been reviewed thrice.

The UPR is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN member state to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.

Established in March 2006 by the UN General Assembly in resolution 60/251, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is designed to prompt, support, and expand the promotion and protection of human rights in every country.