Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, UN Correspondent
The United Nations has expressed significant concern over recent incidents in Bangladesh, particularly the use of live ammunition by security forces during protests. These concerns have been communicated both through public statements and directly with Bangladeshi authorities in Dhaka and New York.
UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, addressed these issues at a noon briefing at UN headquarters on Wednesday. When asked about the excessive use of force by security forces against students protesting for government job quota reforms, Dujarric confirmed the UN's stance.
UN correspondent Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey inquired about the implications for Bangladesh's role in UN peacekeeping missions, given that Bangladeshi security forces, including the army, had been issued a shoot-on-sight order by the ruling prime minister, resulting in the deaths of students.
Dujarric responded, “With respect to Bangladesh's role in peacekeeping, I can tell you that the policy on human rights screening for UN personnel places primary responsibility on Member States to ensure that the personnel they nominate for deployment have not been involved in past violations of international humanitarian or human rights law or have never been repatriated from a UN operation.”
He further stated, “We remain engaged with the national authorities on this issue, and we want to ensure that all measures are being taken to comply with the requirements of our human rights policy.”
MR/
