Monday 03 October 2022 | (4 pm – 5 pm) | Venue: Room- XXV | Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva: European Bangladesh Forum, a platform of Bangladeshi Europeans in collaboration with Stichting BASUG and the International Human Rights Commission Bangladesh, Switzerland will hold a Side Event’ on ‘Bangladesh seeks justice: Recognition of 1971 Genocide’ on Monday 03 October 2022 at 4 p.m. at the UN building, Room XXV in Geneva, Switzerland during the on-going 51st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
A number of experts, academics, university teachers, researchers from the UK, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland will take part in the conference as speakers. The speakers include former High Court Justice in Sweden Mr. Syed Asif Shahkar, recipient of 'Friend of Bangladesh' Award, Mr Chris Blackburn, Communications Director, Swiss InterStrategy, Zurich, also a recipient of ‘Friend of Bangladesh’ award, Professor Ms. Dr. Tazeen Murshid, historian & writer and Director of the Development Research Cooperation, Brussels, Mr. Daniel Seidl, Editor, 50 Years Bangladesh, Munich, Germany and Mr. Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, Chairman, United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP). It will also be addressed by Mr Ansar Ahmed Ullah, President, EBF and BASUG Country Coordinator in UK, Mr. Khalilur Rahman, President, International HR Commission BD, Switzerland. Mr. Bikash Chowdhury Barua, Chairman of BASUG & EBF Netherlands will chair the side event.
It should be mentioned that the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh committed by the Pakistani military is one of the worst mass atrocities that the world witnessed in the 20th century. The Pakistani occupation army in nine months killed approximately three million people, violated over two hundred thousand women and forced ten million people to cross the border and take shelter in India.
Without further delay, there needs to be recognition of the Bangladesh genocide and an UN-sponsored Resolution condemnation against Pakistan for its role in 1971 in Bangladesh. The perpetrators of the 1971 genocide must be brought to justice. The new generation must know what treatment was meted out to the people of Bangladesh who deserve justice . Due to lack of international recognition, the history of that horror, the 1971 genocide has become faded in the world context today. Bangladesh community in Europe feel that the 1971 GENOCIDE should be recognised by the international community to give justice to the victims of the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army and its political leadership in 1971.
The Side event will be telecast live by the London-based British Bangladesh News TV channel and can be watched at the following links: YouTube link : https://youtu.be/zGV8xyysnwg and Facebook link : https://m.facebook.com/events/1933356437004497 (subject to the approval of the UN).
WRITTEN STATEMENT TO UN
Earlier, Stitching BASUG along with Projonmo '71 (an organization for the children of martyrs in Bangladesh Liberation War), Aamra Ekattor (another online platform working on the same issue) and Seraji Foundation e. V. (a Diaspora organisation of Bangladeshi origin in Germany) submitted a written statement to the UN reiterating the demand for international recognition of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. The statement was included under Agenda item 3 in the 51st Human Rights Council Session in UN Geneva which began on 12 September 2022 and will continue till 7 October 2022.