#Title

Probe rights abuses, protect civil rights
FROM PAGE 1
Germany echoed the same, asking Bangladesh to ensure all liberties for the people during the upcoming national elections, while Slovakia asked to ensure the polls are participatory.
In response, Law Minister Anisul Huq said holding elections under a caretaker government -- something the opposition has been demanding -- is “completely unconstitutional and illegal”.
Meanwhile, the UK recommended that Bangladesh guarantee freedoms of expression and assembly without restrictions.
The US also asked Bangladesh to hold security agencies accountable for human rights violations.
Other countries making the same recommendations include Australia, who said it was “deeply concerned about the extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances”.
Slovakia asked Bangladesh to thoroughly investigate such violations.
Both Sierra Leone and Finland told Bangladesh to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
To this, the law minister said that before ratifying more conventions and optional protocols, “we [Bangladesh] are investing in national institutions – particularly to ensure proper implementation of existing mechanisms”.
The ratification of this convention, however, has been a long-standing demand. During the last UPR cycle in 2018, eight states had recommended it.
The member states also recommended that Bangladesh do more to ensure freedom of expression and amend or repeal the Cyber Security Act.
Switzerland asked for the Cyber Security Act 2023 to be amended to bring it to line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, while Sweden asked for laws governing the digital space to conform to international standards.
Australia further asked Bangladesh to safeguard the freedom of expression by amending provisions of the CSA that criminalise free speech.
The Netherlands also expressed concerns at the increased intimidation ofmedia personnel and rights activists.
Slovakia further asked Bangladesh to prevent arbitrary arrests and torture against civil society activists, lawyers and journalists for criticising the government, and to ensure that the press can work without threats, physical assaults and killings.
To this, Anisul said “the use of force has been reasonable, restrained and minimal”.
As many as seven member states called on Bangladesh to abolish the death penalty.
Ukraine, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia asked for the establishment of an official moratorium on the death penalty pending full abolition in Bangladesh.
The law minister responded by saying the death sentence is being phased out.
Prior to the UPR, the government had submitted a report, in which it had reiterated the same, to the UNHRC.
“Bangladesh continues to consider the death sentence to be appropriate for the most heinous crimes. However, Bangladesh is gradually reducing the application of the death penalty with other punishments such as life-imprisonment,” the report had said.
Several member states like the Netherlands, Iceland and Australia also told Bangladesh to abolish section-377 of the penal code and decriminalise same-sex relations.
India made recommendations about strengthening the education system and improving the health infrastructure in rural areas, but said nothing about other human rights.
Russia too only recommended that Bangladesh provide equal access to education to women, and that it continues giving importance to human trafficking.

South Asia worst in world for water scarcity: UN
AFP, NEW DELHI
More children in South Asia are struggling due to severe water scarcity made worse by the impacts of climate change than anywhere else worldwide, the United Nations said yesterday.
“A staggering 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high or extremely high water scarcity in South Asia, the highest number among all regions in the world,” the UN children’s agency said in a report.
The eight-nation region, comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is home to more than one-quarter of the world’s children.
“Climate change is disrupting weather patterns and rainfall, leading to unpredictable water availability,” the UN said in its report.
The report cites poor water quality, lack of water and mismanagement such as over-pumping of aquifers, while climate change decreases the amount of water replenishing them.
“When village wells go dry, homes, health centres and schools are all affected,” Unicef added.
“With an increasingly unpredictable climate, water scarcity is expected to become worse for children in South Asia.”
At the UN COP28 climate conference in December in Dubai, Unicef said it will call for leaders “to secure a livable planet”.
“Safe water is a basic human right,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, Unicef chief for South Asia.
“Yet millions of children in South Asia don’t have enough to drink in a region plagued by floods, droughts and other extreme weather events, triggered increasingly by climate change”.
Last year, 45 million children lacked access to basic drinking water services in South Asia, more than any other region, but Unicef said services were expanding rapidly, with that number slated to be halved by 2030.
Behind South Asia was Eastern and Southern Africa, where 130 million children are at risk from severe water scarcity, the report added.