Labour leaders and advocates on Tuesday demanded the right to form unions and engage in collective bargaining for workers in Bangladesh鈥檚 Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
SUCCESSIVE governments have been generally negligent in ensuring minimum wage and labour rights for workers in export-oriented industries. The apparel workers got some policy attention, and their minimum wage was increased from Tk 8,000 to Tk 12,100 in 2023, but the increase is extremely inadequate considering the unprecedented food inflation in the...
THE firing of gunshots from inside Myanmar into Bangladesh at Teknaf is worrying. Officials say that three bullets fired from Myanmar hit a window glass of the land port office, a truck and a tree about 1:30pm on September 18 forced a suspension of activities at the Teknaf land port about half an hour after as people, who became panicked at the happening...
UNABATED rights violations, including custodial torture, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearances, at the hands of the law enforcement agencies, which characterised the authoritarian Awami League regime, are where reform is expected. The reported allegation that a leader of Juba Dal, the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has died in...
Explosion on the oil tanker MT Suvarna Swarajya on September 7 in Bangladesh exposed the lack of adequate international and national regulations, oversight, and labour rights protection in the shipbreaking industry, said the Human Rights Watch and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform in a press release issued from Brussels on Wednesday...
A United Nations Human Rights Office fact-finding team, which is conducting an independent and impartial investigation into alleged human rights violations that took place in Bangladesh between July 1 and August 15 this year arising from the recent protests, has sought first-hand information from all concerned.
Human rights activists, professionals and leaders at a dialogue on Saturday demanded that all cases of gross human rights violations including torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings should be brought to book.
THE constitution of Bangladesh had been the core legal instrument to provide protection of the fundamental rights of the citizens, and that should have been the primary task, albeit creating institutions to run the state and to set rules for running those institutions. But our constitution at the very outset wrongly attempted to define the ethnic identity of...
Human rights activists on Sunday called for the establishment of hotlines to support victims of custodial torture during the regime of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina...
Rights activists on Saturday demanded voting rights for Bangladeshi expatriates regarded as one of the driving forces of economic development in the country.
Climate rights activists on Saturday at a press conference in Dhaka demanded the cancellation of the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2022-2041, National Adaptation Plan 2023-2050 and reformation of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund...
TEA workers, the most exploited section of the labour force, in Moulavibazar have taken to the streets, demanding their unpaid wages. About 1,500 workers of the state-owned National Tea Company Ltd on September 6 rallied demanding their wages unpaid for three weeks. Workers at the rally said that their families were starving as the company has...
BANGLADESH has signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. A commission led by Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury was formed earlier to investigate each case of enforced disappearance and provide recommendations for future prevention. It has been asked the commission to investigate every...
Venezuelan authorities are committing 鈥榳idespread human rights violations鈥� against protesters, bystanders, and opponents in the aftermath of presidential elections the opposition says were stolen, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday...
THE labour unrest in the apparel sector that began on September 2, which continued on September 3, and forced a few dozen units to suspend operation, warrants early attention and a logical solution. The joint operation that the government initiated on September 3 appears a flawed approach and is unlikely to result in long-term stability. Apparel workers...
Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused both sides in Sudan鈥檚 more than 16-month conflict of committing war crimes including summary executions, torture and...
THE question of the economy, the economic development path to be followed and who is best suited to lead the country at this time are the most discussed issues now. But another important issue that has contributed to the economic and other problems the country faces and which has proved difficult to resolve will soon intrude on the discussion...
Rights groups criticised Cambodian authorities on Wednesday for the arrests of 94 people in a 鈥榟eavy-handed鈥� crackdown on critics of a regional economic development plan with Laos and Vietnam...
IN A democracy, the judiciary is more than a mechanism for resolving disputes 鈥� it is a pillar that upholds the rule of law, safeguards human rights and ensures that every citizen is treated with fairness and dignity. The courts, as symbols of justice, are meant to be sanctuaries where the truth is sought and justice is served impartially...
The United Nations said on Friday it fears a repeat of the 2017 atrocities committed against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, warning a human tragedy was...
A team of the United Nations on Thursday arrived in Dhaka on an eight-day visit to discuss the process for investigating human rights violations in light of the...
The United Nations has reiterated its call for accountability for the recent violence, loss of life and human rights violations in Bangladesh...
The Human Rights Support Society, a non-government human rights organisation, said in a report that at least 819 people were killed during student protests and its aftermath across the country between July 16 and August 18...
BUSINESS syndication and extortion on the road and at markets have for long been identified as major reasons for price increase of essentials. While consumer rights campaigners have continuously asked the government to address the issues, the authorities have failed to stop the menaces. The failure has had negative implications on consumers, small farmers...
An Israeli air raid last month on a key Yemeni rebel-held port was a 鈥榩ossible war crime鈥� that has threatened food and aid supply for millions, Human Rights Watch said...
WHILE many are earnestly pointing at the devastation of war, the rampant human rights violations and the deliberate relegation of international and humanitarian law, there are those who see war from an entirely different perspective: profits...
Speakers, including rights activists, on Sunday called for a UN investigation into each violation of rights against national minorities...
International Human Rights Commission鈥檚 Bangladesh chapter has urged the interim government to take urgent effective steps to free 57 Bangladeshis who were sentenced in the United Arab Emirates....
Human rights activists and researchers at a discussion on Wednesday called on the interim government to hold probe into incidents of killing, injury and detention of children during the street protests since the middle of July for reform of the quota system in government jobs...
