'Travesty of justice’: Experts criticise errors in UN report on forced disappearances in Bangladesh
India Today
Experts in Bangladesh have called into question the UN report listing “victims of enforced disappearances” in the country. The experts criticised the report for over-relying on some local non-government organisations.
The UN report listing “victims of enforced disappearances” in Bangladesh is replete with inaccuracies, with the leading academics and right activists raising questions over the shoddy job. The fact that two separatist insurgents, both back in India, figured in the UN list says a lot about the report.
Dismayed over such “sloppy” work, experts in Bangladesh have raised questions over the global body’s over-reliance on some local non-government organisations (NGOs), who are close to or even run by the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) workers. The BNP, for its part, has a blatant record of faking cases of human rights as validated through media reports and accounts from the country’s known rights activists.
Bangladesh's best known rights activist and lawyer Sultana Kamal said in an interview that the “BNP has a history of faking cases of human rights”, and called for “legal action against the party”.
“The fake human rights abuse cases by the BNP has already damaged their image significantly”, said Sultana Kamal in an interview with India Today.
Meanwhile, the sensational case of the re-appearance of an aged woman, Rahima Begum, has also raised doubts about the UN report. Rahima Begum went into hiding on August 27 and was later found by police on September 24. This case brings into question the authenticity of claims about enforced disappearances made by some Bangladesh rights groups whose findings seem to influence the UN Working Group's report and the action of some foreign governments.
Moriom Mannan, daughter of Rahima, first identified the picture of a dead body as that of her mother before the media. When Moriom was contacted by the police, she again identified her as her mother.
"The whole concept of evidence seeking has been opened to question," said a lawyer, Shahnaz Parvin Dolly.
