Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws on 2016-04-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether cases before the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh have been conducted in accordance with international fair trial standards.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

This Government has made clear its support for Bangladesh’s efforts to bring to justice those accused of atrocities committed during the 1971 War of Independence. However, this must be done in a way that meets appropriate international legal standards. Non-governmental organisations continue to raise concerns about the process and we urged the Bangladeshi government to ensure compliance with these standards during Bangladesh’s second Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in 2013. We continue to emphasise these points in our discussions with the Bangladeshi authorities.