Dhaka, Dec. 10 -- Human rights experts, government officials, and international partners have called for swift and substantive implementation of Bangladesh's new obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), opining that its ratification must now be translated into real accountability and protection for detainees.

They said these at a seminar held at BRAC University (BRACU) in Dhaka on Tuesday - jointly organised by the Embassy of Switzerland, the UN Human Rights Office in Bangladesh (OHCHR) and the BRACU School of Law.

The speakers also discussed how Bangladesh should operationalise the protocol, ratified earlier this year, and establish an effective national preventive mechanism (NPM) to monitor de...