A delegation led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative to Bangladesh Stefan Liller paid a courtesy call on Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed at his official bungalow in Bailey Road this afternoon.
During the meeting, both sides discussed various related issues including law and order and security issues, police reform, independent police commission, National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, Prevention and Redress of Disappearances Ordinance and Rohingya issue in detail.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister welcomed the UNDP delegation and Resident Representative Stefan Liller congratulated the Minister on assuming the responsibility of the new portfolio. Regarding police reform, the Home Minister said, “We are working on police reform. However, it is not overnight, we believe in continuous or phased development. UNDP can provide necessary assistance to Bangladesh in police restructuring, reform, capacity and capacity building.”
The UNDP Resident Representative assured the necessary support in the police reform and said that UNDP’s contribution in the formation of the National Human Rights Commission is undeniable. The organization has been working closely with the National Human Rights Commission for the last 15-17 years. He mentioned that UNDP has also provided all possible assistance in the drafting of the commission’s ordinance and efforts have been made to include international best practices in this regard. Regarding the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, the Minister said that the Human Rights Commission Ordinance is closely related to the formation of an independent police commission. Therefore, in line with this, after necessary scrutiny, the relevant ordinance will be presented in the parliament in the form of a bill.” In response to a question from the resident representative about the Prevention and Remedies of Disappearances Ordinance, Salahuddin Ahmed said that this too will be presented in the parliament in the form of a bill after further scrutiny. He explained that the two definitions of the ordinance have been given in such a way that it becomes difficult to identify the actual instigator of the disappearance. The minister shared his experience during the disappearance. Regarding the granting of investigation powers to the Armed Police Battalion (APBN), which is responsible for security in the Rohingya camps, the minister clarified that only the investigating officer can investigate and the APBN is not an investigative agency. However, he assured the delegation that the necessary security measures will be further strengthened in the Rohingya camps. The meeting was attended by Rebecca Khan, Joint Secretary, Political-1 Branch, Ministry of Home Affairs, Sonali Dayaratne, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Bangladesh, Assistant Resident Representative Anowarul Haq and UNDP-Bangladesh Rule of Law, Justice and Security Advisor Romana Schweiger were also present.
