Staff Reporter:
The UN team, which investigated last year’s July massacre, has called on the state authorities to disband the RAB, use BGB only for border security purposes, and limit DGFI’s scope to military intelligence operations.
The team placed the recommendations in a report unveiled Wednesday in Geneva, with a view to preventing a recurrence of last year’s state-backed violent acts against anti-government protesters.
Existing RAB personnel not involved in serious rights violations should be returned to their original units, the UN rights office said in its report.
The UN team also asked for prohibiting the use of metal shots or other lethal ammunition to disperse crowds and permit their use “only to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury.”
It further asked authorities to put an end to the police practice of mass charges and mass arrests. The legal provisions allowing unsubstantiated and overly broad suspect lists should be scrapped, it said.
For police recruitment, promotions, transfer and removal processes, the UN rights office said that an independent national police commission, composed of government, opposition, and civil society members, should execute relevant tasks.
