The UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, said that every custodial death needed to be  investigated independently.

‘I can understand that there have been 60 to 90 deaths in custody every year. The number is high. Even with the large population, every death needs to be investigated by independent coroners and independent investigators,’ Alice said in an interview with New Age in Dhaka on April 28.

She said that those deaths might be natural, or might be caused by torture or by ill treatment, or might be caused by lack of medical attention for very preventable diseases, illnesses and injuries.

‘The next step is really important for the government,’ she said, adding that the government should inform the people that it was reviewing the law relating to the National Human Rights Commission.

She went on to say that the government should further tell the people that  it was also reviewing the law to establish a national preventive mechanism so that there is a robust way of visiting prisons, police stations, psychiatric institutions, and children and juvenile correction centres.

She said that it meant to assist the government to do its job better.

‘If you have improved the prisons, you have less criticism,’ she said.

An Australian, Alice Jill is the seventh and the first woman UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.

Over a career spanning 25 years, Alice worked with a wide range of stakeholders to improve outcomes in the fields of criminal justice, police and law enforcement, military and security services, immigration, asylum, statelessness, and human trafficking matters, discrimination law, and prison and correctional standards.

Stressing the need for wholesale police reforms, Alice said that thousands of people were beaten in police stations every year and there remained a lot of work to do to this end in Bangladesh.

‘All of the scientific research shows that when people are properly treated by the police, they are more likely to cooperate with investigations,’ said Alice.

She explained that modern policing leads to greater popular trust in the police, making people more likely to come forward with evidence and information about crimes committed, rather than being worried about being beaten themselves in detention.

No secret detention centres can exist in a democratic country, said Alice and expressing surprise at the existence of secret detention centres during the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime.

‘First of all, secret detention centres are prohibited under the international law,’ said Alice, adding that the whole idea was when someone was detained they should be placed in an official detention facility so that their rights could be protected.

She said that she would like to see this government to get rid of the old practice of hiding people away, scurrying them into secret places where they could be beaten and intelligence gathered by unlawful means.

Alice emphasised the passage of the National Human Rights Commission Act in the Jatiya Sangsad and make it functional alongside creating another national preventive mechanism body.

Asked about the establishment of a dedicated mission of the UN Human Rights Office in Dhaka as agreed by the interim government in 2025 and about how it would function, Alice replied that she was not on an official visit but on a study tour as she was invited to some events.

She, however, viewed that the establishment of an UN Human Rights Office mission in Dhaka was a good move by the interim government. 

‘I think that they can also train and support local organisations to improve the overall human rights health of Bangladesh,’ she explained.

She thought that it was a great time for the government to create an inventory on what laws are in alignment and what structures needed adjustment.

There are a lot of people who are willing to help the government and to support it in this regard, including some members of the opposition, she added.

On July 17, 2025, the interim government officially acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture to strengthen anti-torture safeguards in Bangladesh.

‘Let me say about some basics. One of the most important mechanisms for any country to be able to prevent torture in detention, as well as to improve conditions in detention, is to ensure that there is a process whereby independent inspectors can go into prisons, identify the prisoners and the detention facilities they want to visit and to have full range of access in the prison facilities,’ said Alice, who came to Bangladesh on April 22 and left Dhaka on April 29. 

She said that Bangladesh had now joined 80 plus countries that had ratified the OPCAT.

Asked about the high number of mob violence incidents in Bangladesh and how the UN considers the issue, she said that it was the task of the incumbent government to decide how they would tackle such issues and establish the rule of law.

‘Violence begets violence,’ she said, adding, ‘One day someone told you that it was cloudy outside, but you saw the sun,’ she ended.