RAB’s ordeal

When the country's elite anti-crime and anti terrorism unit RAB has already been placed under US sanctions - we think seeking further sanctions on it from the European Parliament as reported in this daily yesterday - is only adding further insult to injury. Needs be mentioned, this time the appeal for a sanction came from a Slovak MP just on the heel of a report, recently 12 human rights bodies to the UN Department of Peace Operations sought a ban on the elite force.

However, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has not yet made any response to the letter sent privately by 12 HR bodies on November 8, 2021. Reportedly, the letter was signed by Amnesty International, Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asian Human Rights Commission, Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), Capital Punishment Justice Project, CIVICUS, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, The Advocates for Human Rights, and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

Unfortunately, aforementioned right bodies' proposal to bar RAB members from being recruited in UN peacekeeping missions and the latest objection from Slovakia came at a time when the agency is engaged in a desperate diplomatic attempt to restore its image. Moreover, the law enforcement agency is regularly presenting its arguments against US brought allegations. We are not in disagreement with international HR bodies' statement that an abusive unit can never be involved in a universal body like the UN. But we want to be made sure that their attempts of bringing charges against RAB are not one-sided.
We also want to put into HR bodies' notice that curbing militancy and extremism in Bangladesh since the incumbent government's assumption to power almost 13 years back was possible largely due to RAB's sheer efficiency and commitment. As RAB has been relentlessly working to implement the government's zero tolerance policy against terrorism in line with US agenda of War on Terror, US sanction on RAB personnel and HR bodies' proposal to enforce  sanction on RAB from UN can rightly call into question their such 'Volte Face' role. Moreover, one can always question whether Western and HR bodies' campaign for banning RAB is motivated by mere human rights issue or any geopolitical interest?

There is no denying that some isolated crossfire incidents took place during the law enforcing agency's drive against criminal activities. But compared to its success, such occurrences also take place within many national law enforcing agencies across the world.  That said - international community should delve deeper into the matter before reaching any final decision against RAB. We also urge the Bangladesh government to take seriously into account the sentiment of HR bodies and its Western friends including the US whom it shares bilateral ties on various grounds to address the crisis more prudently.