Nilima Jahan

BBS-UNFPA survey on violence against women reveals alarming figures

For mothers across Bangladesh, love for their daughters comes with an inseparable companion: fear. From Dhaka’s crowded apartments to quiet village streets, raising girls in a patriarchal society demands constant vigilance, courage, and resilience.

In a year shadowed by violence and uncertainty, Bangladesh’s girls have stood where courage is tested most. They are the first to lose when systems fail, yet the first to rise when the world needs rebuilding. From classrooms to clinics, protest lines to policy tables, they lead with resilience beyond their years.

Poor work conditions fuelling mental health crisis, costing trillions worldwide, WHO data shows

Mitu Akter had the scare of her life when her daughter Raisa began showing alarming symptoms: pale skin, and swelling in her belly, hands, and feet.

For children with special needs, the 35 Shishu Bikash Kendras have been more than clinics -- they are lifelines offering hope in a country where proper, affordable care is rare.

About 34 kilometres southeast of Cox’s Bazar, the sprawling Rohingya camps in Ukhiya stretch across hills and valleys, their bamboo walls and tarpaulin roofs forming temporary shelters crowded with people and stories too often left untold.

Women in Bangladesh carried out an estimated Tk 570,000 crore worth of unpaid household and care work in 2021, according to the country’s first Household Production Satellite Account (HPSA).

Tanvir, 8, died at DMCH after losing all four limbs; parents allege a misdiagnosis in Bhola

Child rape cases in Bangladesh have surged by nearly 75 percent in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to data from Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).

Of the killings documented, 520 or 75 percent died due to police atrocities, according to the HRSS report.

For the past week, social media has been abuzz over the tragic death of Syeda Fahmida Tahsin Keya, a 25-year-old mother of four from Dhaka's Shewrapara, on the night of August 13.

Before the sun rises over Dhaka’s Korail slum, many mothers set out early for a long day of work, carrying the unspoken worry of who will care for their children while they are away.

Fifteen-year-old Shahin's life was forever changed -- not by illness or accident, but by a bullet that tore through his leg during a rally on August 5, 2024.

Largely unnoticed and mostly underreported, drowning remains one of the leading causes of death among children in Bangladesh, claiming thousands of young lives every year.

They were readers of fairy tales, keepers of marbles, chasers of kites across twilight skies. Some still asked to sleep in their mother’s arms. Others, on the cusp of adolescence, had just begun to dream in the language of futures -- of stethoscopes, classrooms, galaxies. They were children, dreamers of careers, cartoons, and cricket.

More than seven months after the resignation of its chairperson and members, Bangladesh’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) remains leaderless, powerless, and largely ineffective.

Despite ongoing challenges for women in employment, education, health, and safety, the national budget for fiscal year 2025–26 has seen a reduction in allocations for promoting gender equality and women’s development.

Rights activists warn that this rollback threatens to reverse progress and stall efforts toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a historic move, Bangladesh’s national budget has, for the first time, pledged institutional recognition for women’s unpaid and unacknowledged caregiving and household work.