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A UN technical team will arrive in Dhaka from Geneva next week to collect primary information on the atrocities and killings that took place during the recent protest movement.
“We have some technical colleagues who are arriving in country next week, they will do the initial fact finding. But the mandate, the details, how the team will work with the government, all still need to be agreed,” said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, on Thursday.
This team will initiate dialogue with the government to fix the frameworks and terms of reference for the UN investigations into the killings carried out by the previous government headed by Sheikh Hasina, she added while talking to reporters after her meeting with foreign adviser Towhid Hossain.
She mentioned that chief adviser Dr Yunus and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Turk had discussed the issue on Wednesday evening, and they agreed on the fact that there would be a UN-led mission to investigate the killings.
“They've already booked their tickets. They'll be here next week,” she said, adding that the team will be doing the initial work.
There will be dialogue to agree on the terms of reference, the timeline, she said.
“These details still need to be chalked out, but we're ready to go”.
“It is the working process. It needs to be in line with what the government has requested,” she said, adding that the issue of technical support needs to be taken into account.
“So there's a lot of very complex details that need to be worked through, but that's going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I think it's going to be very fast,” she said.
About the formation of the investigation team, she said after the visit of the primary team decision on the senior team, who will lead the investigation, will be finalised.
“They are arriving from Geneva, so it won't be colleagues who are living in Bangladesh.”
“After the finalisation of the framework, a body of experts would come to lead the investigation. It will be an independent investigation,” she added.
Asked about the proposal of the Hasina government regarding the UN investigation into the killings, she said, “I think the former prime minister has wanted to include the UN investigators within the national investigation process. So it was a different proposal. It wasn't agreed at the time by the UN”.
“This is a UN led, neutral and partial investigation, because if it's neutral, there will be more credibility, and it will also provide an important pathway for accountability, but also reconciliation, which is also critical,” she added.
On the Rohingya issue, she said, they had talked a lot about it, and there was really a sense of concern about what's happening in Myanmar.
“And I think that was a mutual concern. And we're also concerned about more people wanting to cross, if the conflict continues. And obviously for this government, repatriation is a first priority, but the conflict in Myanmar is a huge impediment to that.”
But we agreed to work together, she said, stating that the special envoy for Myanmar had a dialogue to initiate political engagement to resolve the conflict.
She said she had a fruitful meeting with the foreign adviser, and “obviously we agreed to work very closely in the coming days on the priorities that are set by the interim government”.
“Key areas of work that we've already agreed to are supporting young people and their voices in Bangladesh to promote the human rights agenda and the investigation” she pointed out.
“We also discussed other priorities, such as the economy and what the brand could do to provide support to the economy and the humanitarian responses for flooding in different parts of the country, as well as the humanitarian response to Rohingya refugees”.