Dhaka,
Oct 19 (UNB) - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk is scheduled
to pay a three-day official visit to Bangladesh in the last week of October.
"We are working on
this," a senior official told UNB.
The UN Human Rights
chief is expected to meet Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and other
stakeholders to have broad discussions on rights issues, including the
establishment of an office in Dhaka, said the official.
Earlier, he received an
official invitation from the Chief Adviser to conduct an impartial and
independent fact-finding mission into human rights violations committed from
July 1 to August 15.
The office deployed a
fact-finding team to Bangladesh, with a view to reporting on violations and
abuses perpetrated during the protests, analysing root causes and making
recommendations to advance justice and accountability and for longer-term
reforms.
Bangladesh is witnessing
a number of visits from the United Nations for two reasons-new interim
government in place and Bangladesh's 50 years of UN membership.
Volker Turk made a phone
call to Bangladesh interim government Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in
August.
During his recent visit
to New York, Chief Adviser Prof Yunus sought support from foreign friends for
Bangladesh's new journey towards a happy and prosperous future, stressing that
they do not want to miss the opportunity to build a new Bangladesh.
On September 17, 1974,
Bangladesh became a full member of the United Nations.
As part of an ongoing
engagement with the interim government, an advance team of the UN rights body
visited Bangladesh from August 22-29 and met student leaders of the recent
protests, as well as a wide range of advisers in the Interim Government, the
Chief Justice, senior officers of the police and armed forces, lawyers,
journalists and human rights defenders, representatives of political parties,
and minority and indigenous communities.
END/UNB/MK/SAM