Today, Bangladesh's human rights situation will be reviewed at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva, under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. The UN Human Rights Council carries out UPR review every four and a half years and this is the third-cycle review for Bangladesh.

As the world is already aware, since August 2017, a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign orchestrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people in the Rakhine state of Myanmar has forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

I am tired of visiting morgues, riverbanks and other places in search of my brother,” said Rehana Banu. Her brother Pintu, an opposition activist, was picked up allegedly by plainclothes law enforcers from Pallabi on December 11, 2013. Pintu remains untraced.

Sexual violence including rape of girls and women is a serious concern in our society today. Recently, several cases of rape in public transport have made the headlines.

Today we celebrate International Day of the Midwife, this year on the theme “Midwives Leading the Way with Quality Care.” It resonates with the remarkable efforts and progress that Bangladesh has made in rolling out and accelerating the midwifery profession, thereby making a critical contribution to the health of women and newborns. In fact, in the past two decades, the maternal mortality rate has been reduced by more than 50 percent in Bangladesh.

He importance of the members of the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar regarding the Rohingya crisis cannot be overstated.

In the Asia-Pacific region, more people than anywhere else start working from a young age. As youth, they often work in hazardous and exploitative jobs to earn income for their families. Some of this work also constitutes child labour. This year, for World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO is focusing on improving the working conditions of young workers as well as bringing an end to child labour.

A Latin proverb says “Experience is the best teacher.” In view of famous British historian James Anthony Froude: “Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes.” However, our policy of learning is different. Experience seems to have taught us little. This seems to have been reflected again in offering the police arbitrary powers in the proposed digital security law to take action against alleged offences committed using digital devices.

As a Bangladeshi with a keen interest in the Rohingya issue, I frequently scan the Internet to get a sense of how the foreign media is treating the evolving Rohingya crisis as we approach the monsoon season. When the Rohingyas started fleeing Myanmar last August, the international community, particularly the Western press, mobilised quickly around the Rohingya cause. From September to December, newspapers, magazines, online media,

It may be a little surprising for the ordinary citizen to know that according to the proposed digital security law, the punishment for spreading propaganda or campaign against the Liberation War of 1971 or its spirit using digital devices or instigating to do so is almost the same as it is for the crime of murdering a human being.

Human rights include women's rights, and for women to be empowered on equal grounds as men, is at the end of the day, human rights. However, we find ourselves today in a world led and dominated by men. This begins from the basic core household level and carries on up to global dominance. Women need to be given fair and equal representation in every field of life to ensure a balanced social environment. When society allows women to grow, it

The Editors' Council yesterday at a meeting with the law minister and post telecommuni-cations and ICT minister expressed deep concern over some provisions in the digital security bill placed in parliament last week. Freedom of expression and independent journalism, they feared, will largely be affected if those provisions remain in the proposed legislation.

On April 4, 2018, the Canadian prime minister's special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, released a report entitled “Tell them we're human: What Canada and the world can do about the Rohingya crisis.” The report investigates the humanitarian crisis as a result of the recent exodus of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh. It focuses on four themes: the need to combine principle and pragmatism in responding to the serious humanitarian crisis

March 30 marked the beginning of a six-week passive resistance of the Palestinians to highlight their expulsion from their ancestral land by the Zionist forces 70 years ago.

Last week, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her dismay at the stalemate on the repatriation of the Rohingyas. “We've been making various efforts… but there has been virtually no progress,” she said. A day earlier, her foreign affairs adviser, Gowher Rizvi, called for re-imposition of sanctions against Burma. “Without pressure, nothing will happen. Myanmar won't be secure for the Rohingyas. If Myanmar is not secure, Rohingyas will

The promise of universal health coverage (UHC) is bold: that all people can access quality health services, when and where they need them, without suffering financial hardship. UHC's benefits are clear. UHC is central to improving health and well-being—a fundamental human right. Healthier populations in turn create more productive economies that raise living standards.

Some of my readers might ask: Why bring up this issue once again since it has always been an implicit goal of the development plans and governmental efforts? Because, we have not been getting the bang for our buck.

When his mother asked him to collect fodder for their cattle, Yahin went to play with his friends, instead. The venue happened to be an embankment. While they were romping around, a part of the newly constructed dam was slightly damaged. Incensed, Odud Miah, a local political leader and the head of a committee in charge of building the dam, took it upon himself to teach them a lesson. He caught Yahin while the rest of the kids managed to flee.

After working on child rights for the most part of my professional life, I have come to realise that there is a very limited understanding of children's rights in our society.

As the Rohingya crisis enters its seventh month, chances of it ending in a peaceful manner are quickly evaporating.