United News of Bangladesh

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has called for stronger international cooperation to curb irregular migration and ensure the protection of migrant workers’ rights, fair recruitment practices, decent working conditions and fair wages. He made the call while speaking at the General Debate of the Second International Migration Review Forum at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday. The minister said Bangladesh is strengthening accountability mechanisms and expanding migrants’ access to justice through a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations. He noted that the country has formed a Migration Compact Taskforce and adopted a National Action Plan for 2026-2030 to advance safe, orderly and regular migration under the United Nations Global Compact for Migration (GCM). Ariful Haque said Bangladesh has already fulfilled seven of its 10 commitments made at the first review forum, submitted six new pledges and joined two regional initiatives. He also said the country has presented its first Voluntary National Review on GCM implementation. Describing climate change as an increasing driver of migration, the minister called for predictable financing and technical support for climate-affected countries. He reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to working with international partners to promote safe migration, as well as the dignified return and reintegration of migrant workers.

The UN Forum on minority issues convenes for two days from December 1, with this year’s theme “Review. Rethink. Reform - 30th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Minority Rights. The 15th session of the forum – the main annual event of the UN system focused on minorities, involving more than 500 delegates – will be guided by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr Fernand de Varennes, and chaired by Daniel Abwa, Professor of History and Director of Academic Affairs and Cooperation at the Université de Yaoundé 1. Read more: 360cr people face inadequate access to water: UN agency “The declaration needs to be better understood, acknowledged and implemented since minorities continue to face denial of their human rights in every corner of the globe,” said de Varennes. “More than three-quarters of the world’s stateless are persons who belong to minorities, and in many countries around the same proportion are the targets of hate speech and hate crimes. As the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also acknowledged a few months ago at the General Assembly’s high-level event on the 30th anniversary of UN Declaration, the time has come to rethink and reform the protection of minorities with the UN showing leadership to address inaction and negligence in the protection of minority rights.” Most of the world’s violence and conflict target minorities on the basis of their religious, linguistic, cultural, racial and ethnic identities, the Special Rapporteur said. Officials from governments, the UN, intergovernmental, national and regional organisations, civil society and minority representatives from different parts of the world will be among those joining the forum. This years’ agenda will focus on the normative frameworks and the mainstreaming of the declaration at the UN; minority rights defenders and their role in promoting principles of the declaration; filling the gaps in the implementation of the declaration and urgent situations faced by minorities. Read more: Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on minority issues to spotlight stronger protection for minorities The forum starts at 10am on 1 December with a live performance by a group of minority artists. Speakers will include the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk; Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th UN General Assembly; Ambassador Federico Villegas, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council; and Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s High Commissioner on National Minorities. Discussions at the forum, along the outcomes from four regional forums held during the year, will help the Special Rapporteur frame recommendations to be presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2023. The forum will be held in Geneva in person and will be livestreamed at media.un.org.