The protests, which highlighted calls for for human rights, accountability and social justice, should be met with significant reforms, Excessive Commissioner Volker Türk urged.
“This distinctive, unprecedented second within the historical past of Bangladesh is the results of younger women and men having taken to the streets – at nice private danger – to specific that they’d had sufficient of being ignored and marginalized,” he said.
He added that the regardless of the lack of life and sense of grief, younger folks, civil society and authorities officers expressed hope that “this time, issues will likely be totally different.”
“This time, there should be justice. This time, reforms should be sustainable and sturdy, in order that the abusive practices of the final a long time will not be repeated.”
Brutal bloodshed
The unrest began in July with college students demanding an finish to civil service job quotas, solely to be met with a violent crackdown by safety forces and pro-government teams.
Although the scheme was withdrawn, protests escalated in late July, with the important thing demand for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to give up and for these liable for the violent suppression of demonstrations to be held accountable.
Prime Minister Hasina fled the country on 5 August after holding energy since January 2009. She earlier led the nation from 1996 to 2001.
In response to experiences, greater than 300 folks have been killed, including children, and greater than 20,000 injured. The bloodshed was among the many worst ever witnessed in Bangladesh.
Accountability important
A few of the wounded college students are nonetheless present process remedy, together with for bullet accidents.
“I visited Nitol Hospital, the place a number of the college students who have been shot whereas collaborating in protests in July are nonetheless present process remedy, usually requiring a number of surgical procedures,” Mr. Türk mentioned.
He emphasised that after any interval of repression, upheaval and violence, there must be a nationwide means of fact and therapeutic to maneuver ahead.
“With so many instances to handle from simply the latest previous, prison justice can solely present a part of the reply,” he added, noting also the significance of truth-seeking processes, reparations for victims, initiatives to memorialize and protect the historical past, and ensures of non-recurrence.
“The graffiti artwork across the protests and [Muhammad] Yunus’ go to to the positioning of a infamous secret detention facility, Aynaghor, which is able to now be changed into a museum, are highly effective contributions to memorialization.”
Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk visiting the Nitol Hospital, Bangladesh, the place a number of the college students shot whereas collaborating in July’s protests.
Free speech necessary
The Excessive Commissioner welcomed the latest repeal of the Cyber Safety Act and the withdrawal of instances underneath the Digital Safety Act, which had been criticized for stifling free speech.
Bangladesh has additionally ratified the Conference on Enforced Disappearances and appointed a fee of inquiry into the alleged violations.
He urged the nation to go additional by reforming legal guidelines and establishments to stop the recurrence of repression.
“To revive social cohesion and belief in establishments of the State, it is going to be essential to rebuild the civic house that was progressively strangled in recent times,” he mentioned.
Handle misinformation
Warning that “transitions are at all times fraught with danger”, Mr. Türk referred to as for guaranteeing that susceptible teams, together with minorities, are protected.
“I commend the efforts made by college students and others to guard minorities,” he mentioned, including that his Workplace’s fact-finding mission is investigating allegations of assaults towards minorities between 5 and 15 August.
He underscored the significance for authorities to reply shortly to any incidents reported, by conducting thorough investigations and holding perpetrators accountable.
“It will assist construct belief with minority communities, particularly in mild of troubling campaigns of misinformation and disinformation in addition to hate campaigns on social media,” he mentioned.
Excessive Commissioner Türk speaks to college students at Dhaka College.
Difficult highway forward
The Excessive Commissioner additionally recommended the interim authorities for its openness for his Workplace, OHCHR’s presence, together with its invitation to deploy a fact-finding mission on human rights violations in the course of the protests.
“The approaching months won’t be straightforward, however the spirit of the coed protests and the momentum for lasting change should be sustained,” he mentioned.
“Realising the promise of human rights would require braveness and power, however it’s going to construct belief and assist to heal previous divisions. It’s essential that the robust winds of change are harnessed and directed with human rights because the compass.”
