Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday questioned the quality of the United States human rights report on Bangladesh, noting that Bangladeshi officials at the US Embassy in Dhaka prepared the initial draft collecting information from media reports and some NGOs.
He said that NGOs always see negative things everywhere and there was another group of people who only seek asylum abroad and give a negative picture of the country to avail advantages.
The foreign minister made the remarks while responding to questions from reporters at the ministry of foreign affairs.
‘The government of Bangladesh is of the view that the tendency to impose values of other countries, like LGBT rights, same sex marriage etc in the name of human rights violations are regrettable and uncalled for,’ said Momen.
‘Some opinions came which suggest that the US wants to hit our religion in the name of human rights and we rejected it,’ added the foreign minister, referring to the US State Department’s recent ‘2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’.
He also said that opinions were not human rights and Bangladesh’s human rights priorities were right to food, right to education, right to shelter and right to healthcare.
‘These are human rights in the context of Bangladesh,’ said Momen.
The foreign minister stated that Dhaka had a very good discussion in Washington and both sides wanted improved relations in the coming years.
He also said that the US side appreciated Bangladesh’s progress under the leadership of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The foreign minister added that Bangladesh had a ‘very solid and independent’ election commission and the country’s democracy was very transparent.
