Canadian High Commissioner Lilly Nicholls yesterday said the Digital Security Act acts as an additional threat to journalists in Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has urged the International Labour Organisation (ILO) not to use labour weaknesses as a tool to achieve political gains.

Several UN special rapporteurs have written to the government about the death of an indigenous activist allegedly in the hands of security forces, revealed a document released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday.

Bangladesh authorities should respect the rule of law and protect political opposition supporters’ right to freedom of association, and peaceful assembly, a Human Rights Watch report said today.

Transparency International Bangladesh has questioned the rationale for 29 organisations being listed and declared as “Critical Information Infrastructures” by the post, telecommunication and information technology ministry.

On one hand, there were at least 22 incidents of Hindu religious sites being attacked this year. On the other, there were at least seven incidents in which members of the minority community were sued or arrested under the Digital Security Act or other laws for "hurting religious sentiments".

Although Sustainable Development Goals target ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against children by 2030, Bangladesh is yet to go a long way in this regard.

Speakers at a conference yesterday said although various initiatives have been taken by the government to improve the lives of domestic workers, implementation of these policies and other guidelines is not possible due to the lack of necessary legal framework.

People in Bangladesh who cooperated with the UN on human rights issues have faced reprisals because of it, the UN said in a new report presented at the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday.

The country’s youth have to be made aware of the process for seeking information under the Right to Information Act 2009, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International (TIB), said yesterday.

Speakers at a webinar yesterday said the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) is a threat to the people’s right to information.

There is a massive knowledge gap when it comes to the issues of the transgender and Hijra community in the country, said members of the community at a dialogue yesterday.

It is the primary responsibility of the state to protect the human rights of the country’s people, said speakers at an event yesterday.

Amid mass protest, local administration have backed down from their decision to build houses for the destitute under “Ashrayan Project” on a playground at Boldipara village in Sirajganj’s Shahzadpur upazila.

More than nine months after being allegedly picked up by men in plainclothes, Imam Mahadi Hasan Dollar returned home on Saturday, but he has not talked publicly about his ordeal.

“How are our loved ones? Are they eating well? Are they being tortured? Are they… alive?”

While their families search every alleyway, survivors say that they lived right around the corner in the capital city. 

The civil society is gripped by fear stemming from cases of enforced disappearances, said human rights advocates at a conference in the capital yesterday.

Rumi (not her real name) was going to the washroom from her cabin in a Barishal-bound passenger launch from Dhaka. At the end of the nightlong journey, she would reach her beloved home in the morning.

Tea workers blocked Juri-Borolekha regional highway in Moulvibazar today for four hours, demanding Tk 300 daily wage.