Govt fails to keep civil rights pledges
Says NHRC chairman
Despite making progress in protecting citizens' economic, social and cultural rights, the government has some failures in defending civil and political rights, said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Mizanur Rahman at a seminar's end yesterday.
The government is pledge-bound to show zero tolerance towards extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances and custodial tortures but in reality, there is no reflection of the pledges' implementation, he said.
NHRC organised the two-day national seminar, “Universal Periodic Review” (UPR), in a Dhaka hotel to discuss on its draft UPR report, to be submitted before United Nations Human Rights Council by October 9.
“In the report, we called upon the government to implement the promises,” he said.
Addressing the seminar, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said, “In many areas we have good laws. But we have constraints in implementation and enforcement.”
NHRC Member Kazi Reazul Hoque summarised the seminar's recommendations, which includes strengthening NHRC and protecting the rights of children, the physically challenged, indigenous people, minority communities, migrant workers, refugees and other vulnerable groups.
It also recommended women empowerment, an end to the culture of impunity and sustainable environmental development.
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