The government would reconstitute the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) through appointing a new chairman and six members this month, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said on Tuesday.
The minister said he had already talked to the speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, who is the chief of the committee for selecting the chairman and members of the commission, about the reconstitution.
The NHRC’s incumbent Chairman Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury will go into retirement on June 20 and its two members — Prof Niru Kumar Chakma and Munira Khan — have already retired.
So, all the posts of chairman and members will become vacant after June 20, the minister said adding that the selection committee would soon hold a meeting to select the chairman and the members of the commission.
He said this to newsmen after a meeting with Swedish Ambassador Britt Hagstron at his secretariat office in the afternoon.
Shafique, a lawyer by profession, said the government would appoint an ombudsman and it now looking for a suitable person for the post.
He informed that Tk 10 crore would be allocated in the next budget for the expenditure of holding trial of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the War of Liberation in 1971. An investigation into the crimes is going on smoothly, the minister added.
Referring to his recent visit to Uganda, the minister said all the representatives from all the countries who attended the review conference on international criminal court in Kampala have extended their support to the Bangladesh government for holding the trial.
Source: The Daily Star – 08.06.2010