Details on Sigma Huda by Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International

UN Watch is releasing the following new details as provided by a fellow NGO that has been in close contact with Ms. Huda.

The following statement is by Janice Raymond:

"Janice Raymond, Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, has been in constant contact with UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking, Sigma Huda. Raymond states that the government of Bangladesh has recently issued a restraining order preventing Sigma Huda from leaving the country to fulfill her duties as Special Rapporteur and to deliver a key report on trafficking before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 11, 2007. She alleges that the government fears that Special Rapporteur Huda will discredit the military-backed government and spotlight its recent human rights abuses in detaining and torturing over 95,000 Bangladeshis. We join UN Watch and other NGOs in calling upon governments and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, to take action against the Bangladeshi government's harassment of human rights expert Sigma Huda and the illegal detention, torture and harassment of her family members."

"The more recent prohibitions against Sigma Huda, including the restraining order against her leaving the country to perform her UN duties, is an outrage and a violation of her right to freedom of movement and freedom of speech. The government's illegal actions are now being imposed on more and more members of Sigma's family, including her older daughter."

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Source: UN Watch