Diplomatic Correspondent

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the human rights situation in Bangladesh has improved significantly, but the human rights report of the United States has denied it, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Along with this, the ministry also claimed that many isolated and baseless allegations have been made.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a press conference on Thursday (April 25) on the annual human rights report of the US State Department. Ministry spokesperson Sehli Sabreen expressed this opinion there.

It is said in the written statement that Bangladesh has taken note of the 2023 United States report on human rights. No matter how much we wish, the human rights situation is far from perfect anywhere in the world. Because, considering the socio-economic condition of a country, there are various limitations.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the government of Bangladesh is trying its best to uphold the human rights of its citizens. In fact, the human rights situation in Bangladesh has improved significantly under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. And the current government is still working on those areas that need further improvement.

He said the government's efforts have resulted in significant freedoms in women's empowerment, gender equality, children's rights, rights of the elderly, workers' rights, grievance redressal, access to justice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and political assembly. Despite the government's achievements, it is unfortunate that many of the government's achievements and improvements are not recognized in US reports

Apart from this some isolated and baseless allegations have been raised. The report is clear that it is not replete with references to individual reported or alleged incidents.

Sehli Sabreen also said that it is also clear, the report has raised allegations of conjectural information from most of the local and international non-governmental organizations. Because of that, inherent and biased issues are evident in the report.

Apart from this, the report also held law enforcement agencies responsible for misuse of force in some cases. It has been claimed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that this is also not correct. Sehli Sabreen said the violence perpetrated by the BNP and its political allies often disrupts the lives of ordinary people and damages public and private property. Despite all this, the law enforcement agencies of Bangladesh are showing great restraint and dealing with the law and order situation with complete professionalism.

It is unfortunate, he said, that despite multiple dialogues with the US authorities on human rights and labor rights, the report is repeatedly alleging that the state or government's perspective on the matter is overstated. A number of cases have been flagged in the report on similar labor rights issues, particularly trade union registration and activities, which have been discussed with relevant US officials in multiple bilateral or multilateral platforms.

Finally, bringing up the issue of Israeli aggression in Gaza, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 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 in the case of human rights violations there.