Geneva [Switzerland], August 27 (HBTV): The Bangladesh interim government should seek a resolution at the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent mechanism to investigate and pursue accountability for recent grave abuses in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and other interim government officials. 

The NGO said that the council should also ensure ongoing monitoring of Bangladesh's human rights situation by UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and establish regular reporting back to the council. The 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council begins on September 9. 

The interim government should also work with OHCHR and relevant UN experts to set up an independent domestic inquiry into enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year administration, Human Rights Watch said. 

This domestic mechanism should operate with UN support and oversight to ensure its independence and adherence to international human rights standards, the letter added. 

"Following Sheikh Hasina's resignation amid mass protests, Bangladesh's interim government has the heavy responsibility of accounting for the past to steer the country toward a rights-respecting future," Lucy McKernan, deputy UN Geneva director at Human Rights Watch said. 

"The government should support a Human Rights Council-backed investigation into recent abuses while also seeking UN backing for an independent domestic inquiry into the former government's 15 years of rights violations," the letter added. 

Per the letter, the interim government should urgently implement measures to bring civilian oversight over security forces, disband the notorious Rapid Action Battalion, reform institutions in line with international human rights standards, and revise abusive laws. 

The crackdown on protests leading to Sheikh Hasina's departure was the deadliest in Bangladesh's recent history. At least 440 people were killed and thousands were injured between July 15 and August 5, with most deaths and injuries attributed to excessive force by law enforcement and violence by student and youth groups affiliated with the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina's political party. An estimated additional 250 people died after August 5, mostly in violent reprisals against Sheikh Hasina's supporters, the letter stated. 

(ANI)