UN Working Group to examine 300 cases from 24 countries

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is set to hold the 126th session from 7 to 11 February 2022 to examine more than 300 cases from 24 countries including Bangladesh in hybrid format.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is comprised of five independent experts from all regions of the world.
The Chair-Rapporteur is Mr. Luciano Hazan (Argentina) and the Vice-Chair is Ms. Aua Balde (Guinea- Bissau). Other members are Ms. Gabriella Citroni (Italy), Mr. Henrikas Mickevicius (Lithuania) and Mr. Tae-Ung Baik (Republic of Korea).
The five independent experts will hold meetings with relatives of forcibly disappeared persons, state representatives, civil society groups and other stakeholders to exchange information on individual cases and on structural issues and challenges related to enforced disappearances.
The experts will also examine allegations received regarding obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance ('the Declaration') such as regressive legislation and practices or systemic failures in addressing cases of enforced disappearance, notably in the areas of truth and justice.
The Working Group will also discuss internal matters and future activities, including its envisaged country visits for 2022 and 2023 and the special initiative marking the 30th anniversary of the Declaration.
The working group statement said on September 1, 2020, the Working Group, jointly with other special
    procedure mechanisms, sent an allegation letter to Bangladesh concerning alleged threats against and acts of intimidation and legal prosecution of blogger Asaduzzaman Noor and the ongoing harassment of his family members in Bangladesh.
The Working Group noted with concern that it has been raising similar reports regarding the situation of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh for several years, but was alarmed that it continues to receive cases, many of which relate to individuals linked to opposition political parties, and by the apparent impunity for the practice in the country.
It also strongly regrets the lack of engagement with the Working Group. In this regard, the Working Group notes that it has not received replies to any outstanding cases this year and that only one case has ever been clarified since the Working Group transmitted the first case to the government in 1996.
The UN Working Group hopes to receive information on the outstanding cases as soon as possible, while reiterating its interest in undertaking a visit to Bangladesh, as expressed in several communications since 2013.
Earlier, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances wanted to undertake a visit to Bangladesh in relation to two cases of enforced disappearances.
The cases of enforced disappearance are those of Ansar Ali, allegedly abducted on April 18, 2012, from Dhaka by armed men believed to be state agents, and Saidur Rahman Kazi, allegedly arrested from Jashore Municipality Park on April 5, 2017, by police personnel.
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances discussed the issues at its 123rd session in Geneva from 15 to 19 February,2021 to examine more than 600 cases in 36 countries, according to a statement of the Group but they failed to come.
According to the UN Working Group website Human Rights Watch and other groups have reported for many years about human rights concerns in Bangladesh, and many of these concerns were simply not addressed adequately by Bangladesh in the hearing.
In one example, the government pledged during the previous periodic review in 2013 to thoroughly and impartially investigate and prosecute all allegations of human rights violations, in particular by the security forces.
But it has ignored and denied reports of violations since then, including about violence by the security forces during the 2014 elections and against people who protested the conduct of the elections.
The government delegation claimed that it is taking action against those responsible for abuse, but there is little evidence or transparency on this.
Human Rights Watch has also documented several cases in which members of the political opposition have been forcibly disappeared or secretly detained without charge. Scores of BNP supporters were unlawfully detained and several others remain disappeared.
The whereabouts or status of sons of two opposition Jamaat-e-Islami leaders has not been revealed since they were picked up by security forces in August 2016.
A former diplomat, Maroof Zaman, disappeared since December 2017. A Bangladeshi-British citizen, Hasnat Karim, remains in custody without charge following the July 1, 2016 attack by militants on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka.
Another key concern to which the government delegation responded inadequately is attacks against critical media and nongovernmental organizations. Many people have been and continue to be jailed or charged under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, which includes vague and overbroad provisions to target free speech, and under the 2016 law regulating the use of foreign funding by nongovernmental groups.
 Section 57 has been used to target key civil society leaders and institutions. The government says it will revise Section 57 with its draft Digital Security Bill, but some of its provisions fall short of international standards.
The government has also been using sedition and other criminal laws to target free speech.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Saturday said the law enforcement agencies were not involved in the forced disappearances while foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said there was no such thing as enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.
'We always say that members of our law enforcement agencies are not involved in any forced disappearance. No one goes missing in Bangladesh, some people go into hiding for various reasons and come back later,' he said.
If people go missing, they reappear after a few days as they go into hiding for various reasons, Kamal said, adding that those incidents are termed as 'forced disappearance', the Home Mnister said.
The Foreign Minister claimed that many of those listed by some organisations of the United Nations as missing had actually drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.
He said, "Some UN bodies gave us a list of the disappeared people. It was later found that many of them actually drowned in the Mediterranean. They have prepared the list with the help of a Bangladeshi organisation. They don't have their own research on the matter."