I. Bangladesh received two recommendations related to ratification of 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (and its 1967 Protocol), the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It ‘supported’ the recommendation by Sierra Leone to ‘consider ratification’3 and ‘noted’ the recommendation by Austria to ‘ratify’4 these treaties. II. Bangladesh supported Nicaragua’s recommendation to “continue efforts to harmonize its normative framework with international human rights norms to which the country has acceded, particularly those concerning the rights of the child”.5 Furthermore, Uruguay recommended that Bangladesh “Strengthen measures in order to ensure that all children have a valid birth certificate and deploy additional and more coordinated efforts to protect children from early and forced marriages”.6 This recommendation was likewise supported. This demonstrates Bangladesh’s stated commitment to ensuring the child’s right to a nationality and birth registration (as set out in Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child), which must be implemented by the State, to ensure that no child is born stateless in the country. III. Bangladesh also supported Ecuador’s recommendation to “Consider the possibility of enacting laws for the protection of the most vulnerable groups from social discrimination”;7 and the recommendation of Nicaragua to “Continue working to provide State care to vulnerable and minority groups in the country, to ensure they are fully integrated into society”.8 These commitments are important, in light of the discrimination faced by the formerly stateless Urdu speaking minority community in Bangladesh. IV. Bangladesh received 10 recommendations related to the elimination of human trafficking and people smuggling, all of which it supported. For example, Azerbaijan recommended that Bangladesh “Continue its measures aimed at the elimination of human trafficking, people smuggling and other related crimes, including a comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation titled Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, 2012, and the National Plan of Action 2012-2014 to combat human trafficking”.9 Despite these assurances, the risk of stateless Rohingya and Bangladeshi citizens being smuggled and trafficked by boat, resulting in many deaths at sea as well as bonded labour of those who reach their destinations, was a significant concern during the reporting period. V. Bangladesh supported the recommendation of the Holy See to “Continue improving the conditions of children, women, Dalits, indigenous people, refugees and migrants taking into account the special situation and difficulties that those groups have to overcome”.10 VI. Finally, Bangladesh supported 7 recommendations related to the protection of refugees. These included recommendations to respect all provisions of the Refugee Convention, including the principle of non-refoulement of refugees (France);11 “provide the UNHCR and other relevant humanitarian actors with access to the sites where large numbers of Rohingya refugees are located” (Canada);12 and to “Respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of stateless Rohingya 3 A/HRC/24/12/Add.1, Para 129.3 Ibid., Para 130.7 5 Ibid., Para 129.4 6 Ibid., Para 129.95 7 Ibid., Para 129 8 Ibid., Para 129.152 9 Ibid., Para 129.12 10 Ibid., Para 130.23 11 Ibid., Para 129.155 12 Ibid., Para 129.157 4 2