300 cases from 24 countries to be examined; no word on whether Bangladesh will be discussed.
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances yesterday began a five-day meeting in Geneva to examine more than 300 cases from 24 countries.
Contacted, an official at the Bangladesh embassy in Geneva said they have not received any communications from the Working Group on whether Bangladesh will be discussed in the meeting.
However, the issue bears significance for Bangladesh as the US recently imposed sanctions on Rab and seven of its past and current top officials in relation to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
The Working Group is comprised of five independent experts -- Luciano Hazan of Argentina, Aua Balde of Guinea-Bissau, Gabriella Citroni of Italy, Henrikas Mickevicius of Lithuania and Tae-Ung Baik of the Republic of Korea.
They will hold meetings with relatives of forcibly disappeared people, state representatives, civil society groups and other stakeholders to exchange information on individual cases and on structural issues and challenges related to enforced disappearances.
The experts will also examine allegations received regarding obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, such as regressive legislation and practices, or systemic failures in addressing cases of enforced disappearance, notably in the areas of truth and justice, according to a statement of the UN Working Group.
It will also discuss internal matters and future activities, including its envisaged country visits for 2022 and 2023 and special initiatives marking the 30th anniversary of the Declaration.
In December last year, the UN Working Group said 76 cases of enforced disappearances are pending with Bangladesh, while calling for prompts investigations into the cases that were allegedly carried out by Rab members.
It added that it has not received replies to any outstanding cases during the reporting period of 2020-2021 and that only one case has been clarified by the government since the Group transmitted the first case to it in 1996.
Regarding the issue, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on February 5 said the country's law enforcement agencies are not involved in any enforced disappearance.
The same day, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said many people listed by UN organisations as "missing" actually drowned in the Mediterranean.
'DISCLOSE VICTIMS' NAMES'
Yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the foreign minister to disclose names of the victims of enforced disappearances whom he claimed "drowned in the Mediterranean".
"His statement is not only ridiculous but also sad … People of the country know that they [victims] were picked up by members of law enforcement agencies," he said while replying to a query from reporters at a city hospital after visiting a local party leader there.
Mayer Daak, a platform of the families of people who fell victim to enforced disappearances allegedly at the hands of government agencies, issued a strong protest against the ministers' remarks, saying these are nothing but lies.
In a statement signed by Afroza Islam, organiser of Mayer Daak, said there are witnesses to the enforced disappearances involving the state agencies. Besides, evidence of state agencies' involvement in such cases has also been documented in the judicial investigation.
"Mayer Daak thinks such remarks by the ministers is an effort to give the international community a false idea," she said.
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