DHAKA, 21 January 2022, (TON): International rights bodies have called on the United Nations Department of Peace Operations to ban Bangladeshi law enforcement agency Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from deployment to the peacekeeping missions.

As many as 12 human rights organizations wrote to Under-Secretary General Jean-Pierre Lacroix seeking to ban the elite police unit following US sanctions, reports the Human Rights Watch.

According to the report “in a letter written two months ago but made public, human rights watchdogs have voiced concerns over the alleged torture and enforced disappearances in the country. “

Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at Human Rights Watch said “the deployment of members of the RAB in peacekeeping operations reinforces a message that grave human rights abuses will not preclude one from service under the UN flag and increases the chances of human rights abuses being committed in UN missions.”

He added “the UN should send a clear signal to host and troop-contributing countries that abusive units will not be part of the UN.”

The report quoted Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights saying “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.”