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Australia pledges continued support for minority rights in Bangladesh

Australia to Continue Advocating for Rights of Minorities in Bangladesh, Says Penny Wong

  • 9:03 pm - September 29, 2026
Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Photo: Collected

OTN Bangla Desk: Australia will continue to advocate for the universal human rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.

Wong made the statement in a letter to Australian MP Julian Leeser. Leeser had written to her on 19 August 2026 about a request from the Australian Federation for Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Bangladesh concerning the detention of Hindu monk Shri Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.

Wong acknowledged that allegations of human rights abuses against ethnic and religious minorities, including Hindu Bangladeshis, were a matter of great concern to members of Australia’s Bangladeshi community.

She said that since the civil unrest in Bangladesh in July 2024, Australia had repeatedly raised the need to protect minority communities’ human rights. Australia had conveyed its concerns to the Bangladesh High Commission in Canberra, Bangladeshi officials in Dhaka and ministers in the Bangladesh Government, she wrote.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s letter to MP Julian Leeser affirms Australia’s continued advocacy for the human rights of Bangladesh’s ethnic and religious minorities.

“Australia will continue to advocate for the universal human rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh,” Wong concluded. The letter did not announce a specific measure concerning Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari’s detention.

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