UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to establish a UN human rights mission in Bangladesh.Photo : Collected

DHAKA, July 18, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladesh and the UN Human Rights Office this week signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to open a mission in the country to support the promotion and protection of human rights, the UN right office said today. 

"The memorandum was signed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and Asad Alam Siam, Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh," read a press statement issued by the UN Human Rights Office today from Geneva.

Since last August, the statement said, the UN Human Rights Office's engagement with Bangladesh has significantly increased while the office has been working with various stakeholders in advancing human rights reforms and conducting a comprehensive fact-finding inquiry into deadly repression of mass protests.

"The signing of this memorandum sends an important message of the country's commitment to human rights as a cornerstone of the transition," said Türk.

"It will enable my office to better support implementation of the recommendations made in our fact-finding report, as well as to engage directly on the ground with the government, civil society and others with our expertise and assistance on the fundamental reforms Bangladesh is undertaking going forward," said the statement quoting Türk. 

It said that the new mission would offer training and technical assistance to the authorities across a range of areas, towards meeting Bangladesh's national and international human rights commitments, as well as undertake capacity-building for government institutions and civil society actors.