US has not recognised Bangladesh's achievements on human rights: Spox

Bangladesh's human rights situation has improved significantly under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but it has not been recognised in the annual Human Rights Report (HRR) of the United States, alleged Seheli Sabrin, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry.

Instead of recognising the achievements, the HRR report of the US raised many isolated and baseless allegations, she said while addressing a press conference at the foreign ministry on Thursday (April 25) organised over the recently released annual HRR of the US State Department.

In her written speech at the press conference, she said, “Bangladesh has taken note of the HRR 2023. Human rights conditions are not perfect anywhere in the world, no matter how much we wish they were, because the socio-economic condition of a country has various limitations.”

“The government's efforts have resulted in significant progress in ensuring women's empowerment, gender equality, children's rights, rights of the elderly, workers' rights, access to justice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and right to political assembly,” the spokesperson said, adding, “Despite so many achievements of the government, it is a pity that the US report does not acknowledge many of the achievements. Some isolated and baseless allegations have been made. The report is not backed by references to reported or alleged incidents.”

She alleged that it is also clear that the report mostly relies on conjectural information from local and international non-governmental organisations.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is mentioned in the US report. In this regard, she said that Khaleda Zia is not under house arrest.

The spokesperson said the report accused law enforcement agencies of using excessive force in some cases. But this is not correct. The law enforcement agencies of Bangladesh have shown great restraint and handled the law and order situation with complete professionalism.

Seheli Sabrin said, "It is unfortunate that despite several dialogues with the US authorities on human rights and labour rights, the report raised allegations on this matter. Several cases have been mentioned in the report on labour rights issues, particularly trade union registration and activities, which have been discussed with relevant US officials at multiple bilateral or multilateral platforms.”

Seheli Sabrin also said that human rights are being violated by Israeli forces in Gaza. Bangladesh hopes that the United States will play an appropriate role with the international community to address the case of human rights violations there.