United Nations resident coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis said in Dhaka on Wednesday that the UN would soon open its human rights office in Dhaka.
‘We have finalised the process to formally open a small office of the human rights council in Bangladesh,’ said the UN resident coordinator at a dialogue with the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh at the National Press Club.
Responding to a question about the much-talked-about UN proposal for a humanitarian corridor to the conflict-ridden Rakhine state of Myanmar through Bangladesh she said that it was a legal issue requiring an agreement between all parties involved, including Bangladesh government, Myanmar government and others concerned.
Gwyn Lewis said that the UN would support only all parties concerned reach a legal agreement in this regard. There was no such humanitarian corridor to Rakhine at present.
The interim government earlier agreed with the UN on the establishment of the UN Human Rights office in Dhaka to enable direct investigation into areas of human rights violations.
The United Nations fact-finding mission investigating rights abuses and atrocities committed during the July-August mass uprising is likely to finalise its report by the first week of December.
While visiting Dhaka in October, 2024, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in a meeting with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his Tejgaon office expressed his willingness to strengthen their presence in Bangladesh.
After a similar meeting with Volker Turk, social welfare adviser Sharmeen S Murshid, however, said on October 29 that an office of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner would be established in Dhaka soon, adding that the interim government agreed on the establishment of the UN Human Rights office in Dhaka.
