Bangladesh pressed over UN expert

BBC News, June 7, 2007.

UN officials are urging the authorities in
Bangladesh to clarify the fate of a UN human
rights expert prevented from leaving the country
since mid-May.

Sigma Huda, a UN special rapporteur on people
trafficking, faces charges under the
military-backed caretaker government’s
anti-corruption drive.

Mrs Huda said the Supreme Court had withdrawn her
permission to travel because she was a "security
threat".

She was due to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.

’Immunities’

"We have been advised that Sigma Huda has been
prevented from leaving Bangladesh, where she has
reportedly been charged under provisions of
anti-corruption legislation in that country," the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights spokesman Jose Luis Diaz told the Reuters
news agency.

There is a court case involved and that’s why she’ll not be leaving the country
Bangladesh government

He said his office had requested clarification
from the Bangladeshi authorities on the legal
proceedings and charges against her.

The Bangladesh government had also been asked
"how, in light of the convention on privileges
and immunities of the UN... such proceedings
allow for keeping her from attending to her
duties as special rapporteur," he added.

Bangladesh’s acting foreign secretary, Zahid
Hussein, confirmed to the BBC that Mrs Huda would
not be joining delegates in Switzerland next
week, where she had been due to address the fifth
session of the UN Human Rights Council.

"We’ll be telling the United Nations there is a
court case involved and that’s why she’ll not be
leaving the country," he said.

Correspondents say Mrs Huda is accused of having
wealth disproportionate with her income. She is
on bail and denies the charges.

’Security threat’

In an interview with the BBC, Mrs Huda said
Bangladesh’s High Court had granted her
permission to travel earlier this year and that
she had been able to travel on three occasions
“under different excuses”, including once in her
capacity as a UN special rapporteur.

After not being allowed to leave Bangladesh on 14
May, Mrs Huda was told the country’s Supreme
Court had rescinded the permission.

Mrs Huda said she doubted it had simply been a legal decision.

“It’s not a matter of the court,” she said. "The
court had already given me permission to travel.“”It’s the government which went to the Supreme
Court and termed me a security threat to
Bangladesh."

Mrs Huda said the authorities would not say what
kind of security threat she posed.

“Am I the security threat, or is the government itself the threat?” she asked.

Her husband, Nazmul Huda, was communications
minister in the government of Bangladesh
Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia, which left
power in October.

He is among scores of senior politicians and
business leaders rounded up in the
anti-corruption drive. He also denies wrong-doing.

Bangladesh’s caretaker administration declared a
state of emergency in January and postponed
elections after months of political violence.

It says it will hold polls by late 2008, giving
it time to deal with Bangladesh’s endemic
corruption.

 Details on Sigma Huda

by Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International

UN Watch is releasing the following new details
as provided by a fellow NGO that has been in
close contact with Ms. Huda.

The following statement is by Janice Raymond:

"Janice Raymond, Co-Executive Director of the
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, has been
in constant contact with UN Special Rapporteur on
Trafficking, Sigma Huda. Raymond states that the
government of Bangladesh has recently issued a
restraining order preventing Sigma Huda from
leaving the country to fulfill her duties as
Special Rapporteur and to deliver a key report on
trafficking before the Human Rights Council in
Geneva on June 11, 2007. She alleges that the
government fears that Special Rapporteur Huda
will discredit the military-backed government and
spotlight its recent human rights abuses in
detaining and torturing over 95,000 Bangladeshis.
We join UN Watch and other NGOs in calling upon
governments and UN Secretary-General, Ban
Ki-moon, to take action against the Bangladeshi
government’s harassment of human rights expert
Sigma Huda and the illegal detention, torture and
harassment of her family members.“”The more recent prohibitions against Sigma Huda,
including the restraining order against her
leaving the country to perform her UN duties, is
an outrage and a violation of her right to
freedom of movement and freedom of speech. The
government’s illegal actions are now being
imposed on more and more members of Sigma’s
family, including her older daughter."

Source: UN Watch