Bangladesh to see several visits from UN this year; Volker Turk likely to come this month

Bangladesh is likely to witness several visits from the United Nations this year, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's likely visit this month, officials in Dhaka and New York said.

They cited two reasons for the visits: Bangladesh's new interim government and its 50 years of UN membership.

The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, called Bangladesh interim government Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in August.

During his recent visit to New York, Chief Adviser Prof Yunus sought support from foreign friends for Bangladesh's new journey towards a happy and prosperous future, stressing that they do not want to miss the opportunity to build a new Bangladesh.

On 17 September 1974, Bangladesh became a full member of the United Nations.

As part of ongoing engagement with the interim government, an advance team of the UN rights body visited Bangladesh from August 22-29 and met with student leaders of the recent protests, as well as a wide range of advisors in the Interim Government, the Chief Justice, senior officers of the police and armed forces, lawyers, journalists, and human rights defenders, representatives of political parties, and minority and ethnic communities.

Earlier, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk received an official invitation from the Chief Adviser to conduct an impartial and independent fact-finding mission into human rights violations committed from 1 July to 15 August.

The Office deployed a fact-finding team to Bangladesh, with a view to reporting on violations and abuses perpetrated during the protests, analysing root causes, and making recommendations to advance justice and accountability and for longer-term reforms.

Once Volker Turk visits Bangladesh, he will meet Chief Adviser Prof Yunus and Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, in addition to his meetings with other stakeholders.