In mid-May, the Human Rights Council, a United Nations body, met with all member nations to discuss their human rights situation, and Bangladesh was one of them. The process is known as Universal Periodic Review. Bangladesh was given recommendations by other states on how to improve the human rights scenario. We accepted quite a few—167 to be exact. We also said that we are going to think about supporting 2

One morning I read an article, published in one of the most widely read newspapers of Dhaka, suggesting that all the negative news on Bangladesh's garments sector damages not only the owners but workers too. That afternoon, I decided to visit a garments factory in Mirpur—a small factory with 400 workers. My intention was to inquire about the status of maternity benefits and what exists in practice.

Last year Dolly Rani was working as a helper at a ready-made garments factory in Jiranibazaar of Savar when the advent of a machine made her useless. “I used to cut thread,” says Rani. She worked in the finishing section, and was one of the women who stood at the assembly line snipping away the loose ends of threads from finished products for hours on

The attempt of suppressing workers and union leaders with prolonged unlawful detention is nothing new in Bangladesh. There are too many instances in which owners use false cases as tools to crack down on labour movements.

I am not going to parse my words over this one. Bangladesh has practically decriminalised the rape of Jumma women. By “decriminalisation”, I do not mean it from a legal perspective but rather that, by creating an environment of impunity for criminals, the state has made it politically and socially acceptable for anyone to rape Jumma women and not face any consequences for it. This decriminalisation, I argue, is part of a larger political strategy of dispossession of the Jumma people from their land.

On the afternoon of December 29, 2017, Nurnabi Sarkar, a senior reporter from Jamuna Television was having tea at a stall near the capital's Technical bus stop in Mirpur. Sarkar was waiting for his aunt, who was due to arrive from Sirajganj. All of a sudden, two police constables came to him and said that their senior official was asking for him.

A lot has had happened since word spread that one Marma girl was allegedly raped, and another molested, by members of security forces last month. The claims led to a confusing chain of events involving state forces and rights activists which rapidly escalated the crisis. On one hand, a court ordered the girls to be handed over to the custody of their parents, against their wishes. On the other hand, the queen

On January 22, two teenage sisters of a Marma family were allegedly raped and sexually assaulted by security forces in Orachhari

The end of 2017 witnessed the return of a number of individuals who had disappeared in the second half of the year. Most of the 15 individuals, who had been missing since August last year, either returned to their respective families in the last three months or were shown as arrested based on various cases.

Thakurpara, an impoverished, tiny village of Rangpur district, houses around 50 extremely poor Hindu families, most of who make ends meet working as day labourers. Beside their lower socio-economic status, they are doubly

As a proud Bangladeshi of the 21st century, I embrace the role of the oppressed. I credit my therapist for this—“Look at the silver lining,” she says, “focus on the positives”. So I do.

"I was so happy when I saw the madam of the house, I told her I'd do whatever she asked of me,” described Moyna. “She took me to a room and asked me if I wanted to shower after my long flight from Bangladesh.” Moyna said yes.

Dizen Tudu wasn't always a calculative person. There was a time when he could work in the field under the sweltering heat all day and still have enough energy left in him to play with his three boys at home in the evening.

The right to equality and the principle of non-discrimination is recognised by the constitution of Bangladesh. While article 27 of the constitution states that the people of Bangladesh are equal in the eyes of the law, article 28 forbids any discrimination on the basis of race, caste, religion, sex or place of birth.

"When I was a volunteer for UNYSAB, a bunch of us were distributing sandals to rickshaw pullers who didn't have any. A group of hijras came along and took the sandals away, but a little while later, they returned and apologised for having done so. Assuming we were NGO workers, they said: 'Rickshaw pullers have parents, children, siblings, a family. We have nobody. Can't you do something for us too?'”

Three years ago, a Bangladeshi woman, let's call her Nila, petitioned the High Court asking for protection of her fundamental right to equality. She had been living in a violent marriage. But as a Hindu in Bangladesh, she has no right to divorce, and no exit route from continuing abuse.

A story by Reuters citing an Indian government spokesperson says that India is in talks with Bangladesh and Myanmar to deport 40,000 Rohingya Muslims, arguably one of the world's most persecuted ethnic groups.

From January 2012 to June 2017, a total of 388 incidents of violence against domestic workers have taken place, and, of them, only 161 cases have been filed.

The boiler explosion in a garments factory in Gazipur last Monday once again highlighted the government's inability to monitor the 5000-odd authorised boilers across the country.

Last Saturday night, the 400-year-old Rath Mela in Dhamrai, a fair integral to the Hindu Rath Jatra Utsab and the biggest Rath Jatra festival of the country, was shut down by the police over what it called “security concerns”, the fair stalls forcibly dismantled, visibly destroyed, and their owners beaten up.