Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights is deeply concerned about the recent incident of physical assault and threats of Mr. Shahanur Islam, BIHR’s Executive Director and lawyer in Bangladesh.
During an investigation on the 9th of January, 2011 Mr. Shahanur Islam and his two fact-finding officers were physically attacked, threatened and looted all their valuable belongings in Thakurgaon district.This incident is unfortunately one of many that has taken place over the past few years, where Mr. Islam has been exposed to threats and assault as a result of his work to protect minorities in the country. Human rights defenders are frequently subjected to harassment from authorities in Bangladesh. The incident must be investigated and appropriate sanctions be meted to the police authority in question. BIHR urges for the immediate intervention to ensure the protection of human rights defenders and lawyers in their daily work in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and Human Rights development Project-Khulna (HRDP) supported by Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD), Netherlands celebrates the International Human Rights Day 2010 in Khulna, the southern region of Bangladesh. As the part of the celebration of this day it has organized a Human Chain followed by the Rally, on the theme of “Speak up: Stop Discrimination” to raise even more awareness about rights and opportunity for the women & girl to show support to those women & girl who are often victimized in violence in Bangladeshi society.
The Human Chain and Rally took place in front of the Cemetery Road, Khulna around at 9.30 am, the organization and more than four hundred people of different ethnic, religious, race, profession, sex, institution, age attend the event. Among them, more than 150 women victim of torture and organized violence from five different victim association namely Sonali Victim Association, Progoti Victim Association, Sheikhpara Victim Association, Diyara Victim Association & Banargati Victim Association who were rehabilitated by Bangladesh Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma Victims (BRCT) and acting as a human rights defender in local level were attend the event.
Following the success of the inaugural JusticeMaker conference call with partners from South Asia and the Caucasus, Thomas Halusa (Singapore) and Wouter Krujis (Geneva) organized a second call in order to give another group of JusticeMakers the opportunity to be inspired by the progress of their colleagues’ projects. The conference call took place on 26 November 2010, with participation from Oanh Hoang Ngo (Vietnam), Jae de la Cruz (Philippines), Ajeng Larasati (Indonesia) and Shahanur Islam (Bangladesh). Their brainstorming session highlighted their innovative practices and unique approaches, and how these could be adapted for use in different countries.
The primary topic of conversation was the best way to interact with governments. Each JusticeMaker had different experiences of this, based on the significant variances in their project targets and processes. Shahanur, whose project focuses on raising awareness about torture and highlighting Bangladesh’s commitments to international treaties, takes a high-profile approach. His latest success, having four police officers arrested for the torture of a human rights activist, emphasizes the very proactive nature of his project. He uses the media to publicize instances of torture. He has had successes in fostering partnerships with the police, and periodically exchanges information with the local superintendent about the legal aid situation in Dhaka. By finding amiable partners in the police force, Shahanur is adhering to the IBJ method of “change from within.” By using a collaborative approach, he is likely to garner more partners in long term, thus helping to ensure that torture is eradicated from Bangladesh.
Oanh’s project focuses on analyzing the legal rights of juvenile and indigent detainees in and around Hanoi. She also intends to provide training for lawyers on this issue, and her work requires a lot of government interaction. Oanh’s application highlighted the fact that well-trained lawyers are needed to ensure that a sound juvenile legal aid network in Vietnam can be established. In order to achieve this, she has collaborated with the Bar Association, Ministry of Justice, and universities. The first training she held was attended by various dignitaries, including the Vice Chief Judge of Bacnih Province, the Head of the Appeal and Procuracy Department for the Hanoi prosecutor, the Vice-President of the Vietnam Bar Association, the Vice-Chief of the Vietnam Legal Aid Bureau, and two international lawyers from Warsaw, Poland. More than 200 lawyers-in-training were also present. By collaborating with the government to run these sessions, Oanh is able to foster long-term relationships and governmental support for other such initiatives. Oanh’s work to establish a strong support network can help ensure that her changes in Vietnamese juvenile justice will ultimately by systemic and long-lasting.
Government plays a central role in Ajeng’s project implementation as well. Ajeng focuses on ensuring that pre-trial detainees around Jakarta are educated about the legal system and their rights. She has to enter prisons and work hand-in-hand with detainees to complete her training sessions and achieve her goals. Although prison officials have welcomed her plans and have even invited her to enter the jails several months ahead of her planned visits, Ajeng has run into some bureaucratic challenges. In Indonesia, a person wishing to enter a jail needs permission from the Director General of Prisons. Bureaucratic delays in receiving this permission have slowed down her project implementation.
For Jae, whose project is to create a network of paralegals to support farmers’ rights in the rural Philippines, the problem at hand isn’t bureaucracy, but democracy. The recent elections in the Philippines have resulted in a change in government, and consequently most of the provincial officials have been replaced. Because many agreements that Jae had reached with these officials had been conducted verbally, with few paper records of decisions made, some of Jae’s immediate plans have to be re-assessed. Her plans to organize a round-table discussion between police, military, the Supreme Court and the Justice Department have to be re-started. Jae intends to avoid this issue in future by keeping concrete records of all the steps she’s taken. Despite this setback, Jae’s is hopeful about the future success of her project due to recent positive signs about the Filipino justice system. In a recent landmark decision, the Supreme Court temporarily suspended a judge that was deemed corrupt. This is the first in hopefully many steps towards the establishment of a more efficient legal system.
Dealing with bureaucracy is presents a challenge for all JusticeMakers. However, both Ajeng and Jae have found innovative ways to deal with it. Ajeng’s work is often adversely affected by corruption, which is pervasive in Indonesia, but she has developed an ingenious way of coping with these difficulties. When officials ask for bribes, Ajeng asks for an automated invoice to satisfy her NGO’s funders. This approach solves the problem in a non-confrontational way, and puts out the message that Ajeng won’t be affected by corrupt officials.
Jae manages to efficiently navigate the Philippines’ dense bureaucracy by befriending court officials. This allows her to receive information quickly, as employees of the courts are more willing to help her on the basis of their personal friendship. Jae has also procured a demand letter, which, when shown to officials, forces bureaucrats to provide the necessary material. Because this is a more acrimonious approach, and tends to take longer, Jae uses it only as a last resort.
In addition to discussions about governmental relations, IBJ wanted to hear from the JusticeMakers how they used media or P.R. to publicize their projects. The JusticeMakers who participated in the second conference call all had very different experiences with the media. Jae, for example, tends not to interact with media to spread her project’s message: farmers in the rural Philippines do not often use radio, newspapers or the internet; thus using a media source would not particularly add to her project’s reach. On the other hand, Shahanur utilizes media sources heavily to emphasize his project and its impact. By managing to stay in within the public’s sphere of interest, the effectiveness of his project has improved.
By interacting with each through the call, all the JusticeMakers were able to find hope in the passion and commitment of their peers. Ideas, such as Ajeng’s, of asking for receipts when people are soliciting a bribe, are adaptable and effective. Interactions such as these help lay the foundation for the fellowship IBJ hopes to inspire throughout the JusticeMaker community.
Human rights organizations today submitted a petition to the government of India declaring their support for a 10-year hunger fast of a woman from Manipur in India against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Sixty-two human rights organizations and 46 individuals signed the petition to mark the 10th anniversary on 2 November of the hunger strike of Irom Sharmila to protest against the continued imposition of the AFSPA in Manipur.
(1) The order of 09/03/2010 under the complaint no.89/09 of National Human Rights Commission, 6/3 Block-D, Lalmatia, Dhaka, based on the complaints of Asian Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and other international organisations working with issues of human rights.
In October GHRD together with Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) investigated the case of a 15-year old Bangladeshi girl who – after being lured away with false promises by her tutor – was raped and beaten for almost a week. She was also subjected to village arbitration after the locality came to know about her love relationship with her tutor. In this month GHRD also investigated the attack against a Hindu Temple located in Chittagong District. BIHR along with GHRD investigated the attack against 46 indigenous families who were attacked by an armed group claiming to be supported by the ruling party Awami League at Naogaon District. In total 130-135 people were victimized in the Naogaon attacks.
Training for the young professional on Torture and Human Rights has been held on September 23, 2010 at HRDP Training Centre at Khulna. Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) together with Human Rights Development Project (HRDP), Khulna organized the event. Adv. Shahanur Islam Saikot, recipient of JusticeMakers fellowship-10, awarded by International Bridges to Justice, Switzerland and also executive Director of BIHR conducted the training session as trainer. Thirty young participants from difference professional of the different district across the southern part of the country attend the event to increase their capacity as well as their knowledge about the international human rights instruments available to them.
Between the 9th-11th of October 2010, BIHR along with GHRD investigated the attack against 46 indigenous families who were attacked by an armed group claiming to be supported by the ruling party Awami League on the 23rd of September, 2010 at Naogaon District. The perpetrators vandalized and destroyed houses, looted valuables and physically assaulted five men and a four-year old child. In total 130-135 people were victimized by the attacks.
Reff: UA /BIHR/FF/Dianjpur/19/10/10-36 October 19, 2010
To
Mrs. Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Subject: Seeking justice through proper investigation regarding the incident of rape, traditional arbitration and extra judicial punishments of the indigenous child
Dear Sir,
Greetings from Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR)
The Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR), established on the realization of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has been dedicated to protect and promote human rights in Bangladesh from its inauguration.
The news headed “Attack on Indigenous People in Naogaon :'Land grabbers' still issuing threats: Two cases filed, none yet to be arrested” was published the daily Star on 30 September 2010. The news came to knowledge at the concern authority of Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and a fact-finding mission has been conducted by a team of Bangladesh BIHR & GHRD comprising Md. Ehsanul Haque, Coordinator, TFT, Naogaon and Adv. Shahanur Islam Saikot, Executive Director, BIHR from 9th to 11th October, 2010.
On the 2nd and 3rd September 2010,GHRD together with Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) investigated the case of a 15-year old Christian minority girl who suffered multiple violations including rape, beatings, threats as well as extra judicial punishments in a village arbitration. Ostracised by her own community, she was lured away by two men to the capital where she was locked up, beaten and raped for almost a a week.
There are 534 cases of death reference under trial in High Court of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. These cases are waiting for final judgment after verdict of death sentence given by lower court due to lengthiness of judicial procedure. Though the many cases are prepared for hearing of death reference, due to various hidden causes it is not been possible to make hearing due to resulting jam of cases before the higher court which create unbearable suffering to the people. In spite of being speedy trial of sensitive cases in lower court, it becomes held up in higher court for judgment. The need would be to make speedy trial of these cases, with the increased bench of death confirmation in High Court.
The news headed “An indigenous adolescent girl has been rapped alluring to give job at Ghoragha under Dinajpur district” was published the daily Karatoa on 27 august 2010. The news came to knowledge at the concern authority of Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and a fact-finding mission has been conducted by a team of Bangladesh BIHR & GHRD comprising Adv. Rabindra Ghosh, GHRD, Dhaka; Gonesh Rajbongsi, Volunteer, GHRD, Dhaka; Rabindra Prasad Gupta, Volunteer, BIHR; Adv. Shahanur Islam, Executive Director, BIHR on 2nd and 3rd September 2010.
A home ministry committee for probing the death of Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha leader Amirul Islam Mintu in custody at its first meeting on Thursday discussed a complaint on the issue referred by the National Human Rights Commission.
‘We have discussed the complaint of a rights organisation referred to the home ministry by the National Human Rights Commission,’ a committee member told New Age after the meeting.
Reported by: UNBconnect
Reported on: September 22, 2010 22:52 PM
Reported in: National
Dhaka, Sep 22 (UNB)- The CMM court today ordered warrant of arrest against four former police officers of Ramna thana in a case that accused them of torturing a BCL leader in custody more than 6 years ago.
The accused are former OC Mahbubur Rahman, SIs Nair Ali and Rezaul Karim and police sergeant Anwar.
A Dhaka court on Wednesday issued warrants for arrest of four police officers, including former Ramna police officer-in-charge Mahbubur Rahman, in connection with torturing a Chhatra League leader in custody to force ‘false admission’ in the case of attempt on the life of Dhaka University teacher Humayun Azad in 2004.
Metropolitan magistrate Mehedi Hasan Talukder passed the order after hearing an investigation report on a complaint filed with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on March 5, 2008 by Chhatra League leader Abu Abbas Bhuiyan accusing former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and the four policemen of torturing him in custody to force ‘false admission.’
