UN warned Bangladesh of peacekeeping mission termination if army got involved in July movement: Turk

The United Nations had warned the Bangladesh Army that if they got involved in the July movement, they could lose their ability to participate in peacekeeping missions, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

"And we actually gave the warning to the army that if they get involved it means they may not be able to be a troop contributing country anymore. As a result, we saw changes when Muhammad Yunus took over as the new chief adviser of the interim administration," Turk explained in an interview on BBC's HARDtalk, which aired on 5 March. 

In response to a question from HARDtalk host Stephen Sackur, the UN high commissioner said, "During July-August, you know there was massive demonstration of students. They had enough of the previous government under Sheikh Hasina. There was massive repression happening. The big hope for them was actually our voice, was my voice, was also what we were able to do and we put the spotlight on the situation."

Volker Turk stated that Dr Yunus, after he took over as the chief adviser, requested him sending a fact-finding mission in Bangladesh to put the spotlight on the situation to investigate what was happening.

"And it actually helped. I was in Bangladesh last year, the students were so grateful for us taking a stand, and for us speaking out and for supporting them," he added.

'Accountability absolutely the key': Turk presents UN report on Bangladesh uprising to member states

On Wednesday (5 March), Volker Turk presented a fact-finding report in Geneva, detailing human rights violations and abuses during the July and August 2024 protests in Bangladesh.

Ensuring accountability for the rights violations is absolutely the key, the UN rights chief said during dialogue with member states and civil society on the findings and recommendations, with a view to promoting accountability, justice, and human rights reforms in Bangladesh.

"The key findings are that we have reassembled grounds to believe and that is in the report issued on 12 February. We believe that former government officials, members of the security and intelligence and associates of former ruling party had committed organized and systematic human rights violations," he said.

The interim government of Bangladesh and civil society representatives from Bangladesh also participated in the event.