‘Ban RAB members from UN peacekeeping missions’

GBNEWS24DESK//

Twelve international human rights organisations in a concerted move demanded banning the members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a paramilitary force of Bangladesh, from being deployed at the United Nations peacekeeping missions.

The organisations include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Asian Human Rights Commission, International Federation for Human Rights, The Advocates for Human Rights, World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and six others, reads an HRW press release.

Besides, they have called for an in-depth review of the agency’s role following the US sanctions in December last year.

A letter signed by the rights groups has been sent privately to Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix in this regard.

The department of peacekeeping operations, however, has yet to provide a formal response to the letter which was sent over two months ago on November 8, 2021.

“If Secretary General Guterres is serious about ending human rights abuses by UN peacekeepers, he will ensure that units with proven records of abuse like the Rapid Action Battalion are excluded from deployment,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.