Bangladesh has joined the United Nations International Convention on Anti-Disappearance

For the last 15 years, there was an urge for Bangladesh to join the International Convention on Anti-Disappearance. But the Awami League government was avoiding it. Now Bangladesh has joined that charter.

The chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

He signed the Charter on Protection of Citizens from Disappearance amid the applause of the advisers at the weekly meeting of advisers on Thursday (August 29).

The chief adviser said, this is a historic moment. We signed this charter one day before the International Day for Victims of Disappearances.

International Day for Victims of Enforced Disappearance is observed on August 30 every year.

The International Convention against Missing Persons was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 2006 to protect all citizens from disappearances. Implementation of the Charter began in 2010 after 32 countries signed it. So far 75 countries of the world have joined this charter.

The goal of the International Convention against Disappearance is to stop disappearances as well as to establish justice for this crime and to provide assistance to the victims.

According to the statistics of non-governmental human rights organization Odhikar, more than 700 people have gone missing in Bangladesh in the last 15 years. Among them, more than 150 people have not been found yet.

Incidentally, the government has formed a 5-member commission under the leadership of Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury to investigate how many cases of disappearances have occurred at the hands of RAB, police and law enforcement forces in the last 16 years.

On August 27, a notification has been issued by the Cabinet Department establishing this commission under the authority of the 'Commission of Inquiry Act, 1956'. The committee has been directed to submit its report within the next 45 working days.

Bangladesh /SBT