Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, UN correspondent
The United Nations is always ready to assist governments anywhere who may request help with different issues, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, while responding on query that if the UN would assist with any investigation run by state-controlled institutions in Bangladesh that lack independence, or would offer its own investigation, regarding the killings and torture during students’ protests.
UN correspondent Mushfiqul Fazal inquired this by highlighting that the government was continuing its crackdown on students as they were protesting to meet their demands during a noon briefing at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
“We are, of course, always ready to assist governments anywhere who may request help with different issues, and we see how we can best do that. In terms of independent investigations, as you know, that would require, as in any of these cases, a mandate from a legislative body of this organization,” Dujarric responded.
At least three journalists were killed in Bangladesh in recent days, and many have been arrested with no information on their whereabouts, said Ansarey, adding that one of his colleagues Saeed Khan, who used to work for his news portal went missing and nobody knows his current location. He sought to know Dujarric’s response in this regard.
The spokesperson for the UN secretary general said they have condemned the use of live fire ammunition that we have seen in Bangladesh.
Governments, whether in Bangladesh or anywhere else, need to be protecting the rights of people to protest peacefully and need to be protecting the right of journalists to do their job in a free and unfettered manner, he added.
Earlier, Dujarric read out a statement on the UN activities in humanitarian response in Bangladesh. He said despite the political situation and the violence they have seen, it is important to remind everyone that there are humanitarian crises ongoing in Bangladesh.
“We and our partners continue to provide support to the people impacted by a number of emergencies — including Cyclone Remal which has impacted 13 million people across Bangladesh this year,” Dujarric said.
He said, “Our partners continue their work despite operational challenges which obviously includes internet outages, bank closures and curfews. Last month, we and our partners launched the $80 million humanitarian response plan to support 1.2 million people. The appeal is currently only 18 per cent funded.”
On 5 June, $7.5 million from the central emergency response fund was made available to support the response to the cyclone, while an additional $6.2 million from the central emergency response fund was released on 4 July, to allow for cash payments to communities in the Jamuna basin, he said.
There is also a massive humanitarian operation in Cox’s Bazaar for refugees from Myanmar and to support the host communities, Dujarric said.
MR/
