Freedom of expression, peaceful assembly fundamental HRs: UN

Job quota protesters hold rally on Jahangirnagar University campus on Monday evening. UNB

17 July 2024 - As violent protests continued at university campuses in Bangladesh on Wednesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged authorities to engage with students demanding an end to the quota system for government jobs amid rising unemployment. 

The demonstrations erupted two weeks ago, and students have been clashing with their pro-government counterparts and the police in the capital, Dhaka, and other cities.

The Bangladeshi Government closed all public and private universities after the protests turned deadly on Tuesday, with six people killed and scores injured, according to media reports.

Writing on social media, UN rights chief Volker Türk said that all acts of violence and use of force, especially resulting in the loss of life, must be investigated and perpetrators held to account.

“Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are fundamental human rights,” he added.

The students are protesting quotas which reserve a third of government jobs to the children of veterans of the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. 

The quotas were abolished in 2018 but reinstated earlier this month. – UN News