A fact-finding team of the United Nations Office for Human Rights at the invitation of the Interim Government of Bangladesh is conducting an independent and impartial investigation into the human rights violations committed during the anti-discrimination student movement in Bangladesh from July 1 to August 15.
The fact-finding team has been tasked with uncovering the truth, identifying the culprits in the incident, analyzing the root causes of human rights violations and making specific recommendations for Bangladesh to prosecute past human rights violations and prevent their recurrence, a press release said on Monday (September 16).
All individuals, groups and organizations are invited to provide directly obtained information on all human rights violations and abuses of power that occurred during the protests between July 1 and August 15, 2024, not available on social media or in any other public domain.
The circular asked for submissions to be sent to OHCHR-FFTB-Submissions@un.org.
The UN investigative team plans to interview victims, law enforcement officials, medical professionals and eyewitnesses.
Fact-finding is not a criminal investigation and is conducted separately from any national criminal justice process.
The fact-finding process is highly confidential and the team will not give any media interviews during the investigation, the notice said, requesting to respect the confidentiality of the fact-finding process.
The notification also mentions that the United Nations Human Rights Office will publish a detailed human rights report with important findings, conclusions and recommendations of the investigation after the on-site inspection and data analysis.