A UN technical team arrives in Dhaka from Geneva next week to collect preliminary information on the atrocities and killings that took place during the recent protests in Bangladesh, in the process of assisting smooth transition.
"We have some technical colleagues who are arriving in country next week. They will do the initial fact finding. But the mandate, the details, how the team will work with the government, all still need to be agreed," said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, on Thursday.
This team will initiate dialogue with the government for fixing the frameworks and terms of reference for the UN investigations into the killings perpetrated under the previous government headed by Sheikh Hasina, she added.
The United Nations coordinator detailed the probe plan while talking to reporters after her meeting with foreign adviser of the interim government Towhid Hossain.
She mentioned that chief adviser Dr Yunus and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk discussed the issue on Wednesday evening, and they agreed on the fact that there would be a UN-led mission to investigate the killings.
"They've already booked their tickets. They'll be here next week," she said, adding that the team will be doing the spadework for a wider probe.
There will be dialogue to agree on the terms of reference, the timeline.
"These details still need to be chalked out, but we're ready to go."
She says it is the working process. It needs to be in line with what the government has requested. The issue of technical support needs to be taken into account.
"So there's a lot of very complex details that need to be worked through, but that's going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I think it's going to be very fast," she said.
About the formation of the investigation team she said after the visit of the primary team decision on the senior team, who will lead the investigation, would be finalised.
"After the finalisation of the framework a body of experts would come to lead the investigation. It will be an independent investigation," she added.
Asked about the proposal of the Hasina government regarding UN investigation into the casualties, she said, "I think the former prime minister has wanted to include the UN investigators within the national investigation process. So it was a different proposal. It wasn't agreed at the time by the UN."
She makes it clear that this is a UN-led neutral investigation. Because if it's neutral, "there will be more credibility, and it will also provide an important pathway for accountability, but also reconciliation, which is also critical".
On the Rohingya issue she said they had talked a lot on it and there was really a sense of concern about what's happening in Myanmar.
"And I think that was a mutual concern. And we're also concerned about more people wanting to cross, if the conflict continues. And obviously for this government, repatriation is a first priority, but the conflict in Myanmar is a huge impediment to that."
But they agreed to work together, she said, stating that the special envoy for Myanmar had a dialogue to initiate political engagement to resolve the conflict.
The UN official said she had a fruitful meeting with the foreign adviser, and "obviously we agreed to work very closely in the coming days on the priorities that are set by the interim government".
The key areas of work already agreed are "supporting young people and their voices in Bangladesh to promote the human- rights agenda and the investigation".
She said they also discussed other priorities, such as "the economy and what the brand could do to provide support to the economy and the humanitarian responses for flooding in different parts of the country, as well as the humanitarian response to Rohingya refugees".
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