The United States has said it expects the Bangladesh government to maintain the safety and security of its mission and personnel in the country in line with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“The United States values its relationship with Bangladesh, and we expect that the government will take all necessary actions to maintain the safety and security of all foreign missions and personnel in the country, including ours,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a regular briefing on Thursday.
He was replying to a question after US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas in an interview with Channel 24 in Dhaka said recently that he was concerned about his own security and the security of the embassy staff.
Miller said he would not discuss “specific details” around security at the US embassy or the personnel that worked there.
“I will say that of course the safety and security of our diplomatic personnel is of the utmost importance to us.
“And per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, every host country must uphold its obligations to ensure the protection of all diplomatic mission premises and take all diplomatic steps to prevent any attack on personnel,” he said.
Bangladesh’s Mushfiq Fazal Ansari also asked whether the US was considering “more rounds visa restrictions in Bangladesh, including the pro-government media who helped the regime to be a monster?”
The spokesperson declined to announce specific steps or preview steps that the US might take.
“We have taken steps to impose restrictions under the secretary’s authority against members of law enforcement, the ruling party and the political opposition who we believe to be responsible for or complicit in undermining free and fair elections in Bangladesh,” he said, reiterating Washington’s previous announcement.
“And as we made clear when we announced this policy on May 24 – that’s when we announced the policy, not the imposition of sanctions on specific individuals – but when we announced that policy, that it could be applied to any Bangladeshi individual who we believe was responsible for or complicit in undermining the democratic process. So we retain the option to impose sanctions on other individuals if and when we believe it’s appropriate.”
