The US will not suddenly lift the sanctions it has imposed on the Rapid Action Battalion and seven of its current and former officials, Washington has told Dhaka.
The matter was discussed during the visit of Victoria Nuland, the US undersecretary for political affairs, to Dhaka, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
“They said it was a process and a complicated one and so they won’t be lifted based on verbal complaints alone,” he said. “However, they said they would work on the issue.”
On December 10, Human Rights Day, the US imposed sanctions on RAB and some of its current and former officials, citing ‘serious human rights violations’ by the force.
After the sanctions were imposed, Dhaka summoned the US ambassador to express its dissatisfaction with the decision.
Nuland’s visit from Mar 19 – 21 occurred as Bangladesh and the US were discussing the issue. Following a bilateral meeting on Sunday, she described the situation as ‘complicated’.
“We have concerns about how RAB has performed, about extra-judicial killings, about disappearances," she said. But talks would be ongoing between the two countries, she added.
Foreign Minister Momen has signalled that he will bring up the sanctions in his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington in April.
“Of course, the matter will be discussed,” Momen said in response to a question on Wednesday.
“Since Dec 10, the RAB issue has been brought up in every meeting with a US representative. It was discussed with the undersecretary who recently visited.”
“You have heard what she had to say. For the past three months, RAB has not been involved in any killings and they are happy with that.”
“They also discussed addressing the allegations against RAB brought to the US,” he said.
“We told them that we are taking whatever remedial action is necessary. I mean, the mechanism to address these issues is already part of our system, but often they don’t work properly.”
“We want these mechanisms to be effective so that, if there is any untoward incident, it can be handled by the judicial process. But if we haven’t said so loudly before, we are doing it now – we are taking remedial action.”
The foreign minister also noted RAB’s work on fighting human trafficking, drug trafficking and terrorism, which all contribute to the US’s global policy goals.
“Particularly in terms of fighting terrorism, RAB has done extraordinary work. You have acknowledged it yourselves. Based on that, we would be happy if you could withdraw your sanctions.”