A five-member delegation from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has visited the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh. The visit took place on Monday, June 16.

Prior to this, the UN delegation held a meeting with legal adviser Dr. Asif Nazrul regarding enforced disappearance issues. The UN team, which includes Vice-Chair Grazyna Baranowska and Ana Lorena Delgadillo Perez, arrived in Dhaka on Sunday, June 15, for a four-day official visit.

The UN Working Group had been requesting permission to visit Bangladesh for nearly a decade to investigate cases of enforced disappearances. Despite sending their first formal request in March 2013, the then Awami League government did not respond. Multiple requests followed over the years, with the last one made on April 24, 2020, which was also denied.

Following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5 last year, after a student-led uprising, the interim government headed by Dr. Muhammad Yunus granted permission for the visit. This marks the first time the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances is officially visiting Bangladesh. The delegation is scheduled to leave Dhaka on June 18.

During the visit, the team plans to hold discussions with Dr. Asif Nazrul, the Foreign Secretary, members of the Disappearance Commission, law enforcement agencies, and families of the victims. They will also participate in policy-level meetings.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Golam Kibaria, a student leader from Chittagong University’s student wing of the BNP, has filed charges with the Tribunal against former MP of Comilla-5 constituency M.A. Zaher, former Comilla South Chhatra League Chairman and later Upazila Chairman Abu Tayeb Opi, and 13 others. The case involves allegations of abduction and severe torture, including gouging out the victim’s eyes, during an incident on July 21, 2016, in Comilla.