By Online Desk, The CNN :
United Nations Secretary General Anthony Gutierrez has written a letter congratulating Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for being re-elected. If the question arises, did the United Nations move away from its previous statement and position on the election? Just News editor and a permanent UN correspondent drew the attention of spokesperson Stephen Dujarric at the regular briefing of the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday.
In response, Dujarric said, there has been no change in the position announced by the United Nations in the twelfth national parliament election.
He said, the Secretary General has sent a letter. It has been sent in the same way as the Secretary General sends letters to heads of state and government of different countries when they are re-elected.
At this time, he emphasized that there has been no change in the position of what the United Nations has said from this podium and what the High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged the newly elected government to take urgent steps to change course and renew Bangladesh’s global commitment to democracy and human rights.
Such a position of the United Nations in a long statement on the day after the much-discussed 12th National Parliament election on January 7 made noise in the political and diplomatic arena of the country. Volker Turk’s statement is seen as an observation of the United Nations and the Western world on the voting issue. Expressing deep concern over the arrest of opposition activists and suppression of dissent in the run-up to the election, the UN human rights chief openly said in his statement that the atmosphere of the January 7 election has been severely damaged due to violence and suppression of opposition candidates and supporters. The United Nations has demanded an investigation into what happened around the vote.
