OHCHR's Mandate: Promote and protect human rights globally, operating under principles of impartiality, objectivity, and neutrality.

Volker Turk's Role: Played a crucial role during the student protests in Bangladesh, leading to the toppling of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.

BBC HARDtalk Interview: Turk admitted involvement with protesting students and warned the army of the consequences if they suppressed the movement.

Concerns Raised: Turk's actions raise concerns about bias and objectivity, undermining the perceived neutrality of the UN Human Rights Council's policy towards Bangladesh.

Threat to the Army: Speculation that the army was threatened with losing UN peacekeeping jobs if they stopped the protests.

Human Rights Abuses: The situation in Bangladesh has become chaotic, with revenge attacks, state-tolerated murders, judicial persecutions, and suppression of free speech.

Flaws in OHCHR Report: Serious flaws in investigative methodology, prompting calls for a new and impartial inquiry.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), also known as UN Human Rights, is tasked with the global promotion and protection of human rights. It operates under the principles of impartiality, objectivity, and neutrality, aiming to ensure that human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled for all people, everywhere.

Established by the UN General Assembly in 1993, the UN Human Rights is mandated to:

- Promote and protect all human rights for all

- Recommend that bodies of the UN system improve the promotion and protection of all human rights

- Promote and protect the right to development

- Provide technical assistance to States for human rights activities

- Coordinate UN human rights education and public information programmes

- Work actively to remove obstacles to the realization of human rights and to prevent the continuation of human rights violations

- Engage in dialogue with Governments in order to secure respect for all human rights

- Enhance international cooperation for the promotion and protection of all human rights

- Coordinate human rights promotion and protection activities throughout the United Nations system

- Rationalize, adapt, strengthen, and streamline the UN human rights machinery

Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, played a crucial role during the student protests in Bangladesh last year that led to the toppling of the elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In an interview with BBC HARDtalk on 6 March 2025, Turk admitted his involvement with the protesting students and warned the country's army of stern consequences if they tried to suppress the movement for regime change.

During the interview, Turk said, "The big hope for them was actually our voice, was my voice, and was also what we were able to do, and we put the spotlight on the situation. And we actually gave the warning to the army that if they get involved, it means that they may not be allowed to be a troop-contributing country anymore. As a result, we saw changes." He also mentioned that when he was in Bangladesh last November, he was thanked for his role. "The students were so grateful for us taking a stand, for us speaking out, and for us supporting them."

His statement underscores his intense communication with the agitating students, providing the support they needed to succeed in their movement. However, his position raises significant concerns about bias and objectivity, undermining the perceived neutrality of the UN Human Rights Council's policy towards Bangladesh. The role he played during Bangladesh's unrest raised the question of whether it falls within the UN Human Rights mandate. The role he played during Bangladesh's unrest raised the question of whether it falls within the UN Human Rights mandate.

Questions have been raised about the threat to the army, which was instrumental in preventing the country's security forces from performing their oath-bound duties. There was significant speculation that the army was threatened with losing their UN peacekeeping jobs if they stopped the students' protests. As reported by Reuters, following the threat, Chief of Army Staff General Waker-uz-Zaman held a meeting with his generals and decided that troops would not open fire on civilians to enforce a curfew.

Volker now confirmed that the speculation was a fact that has led to a chaotic situation in Bangladesh, where human rights abuses have become an everyday phenomenon. The recent fact-finding report released by UN Human Rights confirms that Bangladesh is at a critical juncture. Today, Bangladesh is a place where revenge attacks, state-tolerated murders, and judicial persecutions are common. Threats to Hindus, minority Muslim groups, and indigenous peoples, gender-based violence against women and girls, attacks on journalists, and the suppression of free speech are also prevalent.

The report, however, has raised eyebrows due to serious flaws in its investigative methodology, prompting calls for a new and impartial inquiry. Bangladesh desperately needs an investigation that properly documents the unrest that has run rampant since August 15. This should include the organized killings and unlawful detentions of members and supporters of Awami League (the country’s biggest and oldest political party), the escalating attacks on religious and ethnic minorities, the suppression of media outlets and individual journalists, and the creeping radical Islamization of the country’s cultural and political life.

These concerning developments are reported daily in the international media but sadly receive little scrutiny in this month's OHCHR document. A critical weakness of the report is that it does not cover the post-August 15 period, meaning that many of its observations fail to address the Bangladeshi people's most urgent concerns.

The OHCHR report itself acknowledges this flaw in its terms of reference. It also admits that it cannot supply levels of proof that would satisfy a criminal court that its allegations of Awami League involvement in human rights abuses are true. For the record, Awami League categorically denies and rejects the report’s claims that some of its senior leaders, including the Prime Minister herself, were personally responsible for or directed the use of lethal force against crowds; or were involved in or had knowledge of mistreatment of detainees.

These allegations rest entirely on biased evidence supplied by the Interim Government, while other records have been withheld that would exculpate the Awami League and incriminate members and supporters of the Interim Government. For example, the OHCHR flagrantly errs in accusing the Awami League Government of failing to take steps to seek accountability for the breakdowns of discipline among some of those tasked with law enforcement that led to regrettable deaths, violence, and destruction from late July. In fact, in early August, the Government publicly established an inquiry commission, which was later dissolved by Dr. Yunus, to investigate those matters. Moreover, at the same time, the UN itself was invited by the Awami League-led Government to observe events on the ground.

All incidents of violence and lawlessness – including many that were unreported at the time, all that have occurred since August 15, and all that continue to occur – must be investigated properly and impartially, regardless of the political hue of their perpetrators. The OHCHR exposes the impunity that many perpetrators of this violence continue to enjoy under the Interim Government, but an independent investigation must go further in holding it accountable for these blanket exclusions.

Victims are currently deprived of their right to seek justice from their aggressors or redress from the authorities that have failed to protect them against lawlessness. Those who have lost their lives or continue to endure violence and discrimination deserve better than this OHCHR report. Victims include the scores of policemen brutally murdered in undocumented lynchings, hangings, burnings, and other revenge attacks during and after last year’s uprising. The OHCHR references just 44 such killings but suppressed documentary evidence shows there were many more. Bangladesh needs a fully independent review carried out by an impartial investigator without fear of reprisals.

The report makes important recommendations about the country’s need to foster and protect true multiparty democracy, safeguard religious and ethnic minorities, and secure the economic and social progress that Bangladesh has enjoyed in recent years. Yet none of this can happen while this incomplete narrative is allowed to persist unchallenged and while an unelected and partial administration remains in power, its failings glossed over by the OHCHR.