Lawyers and Human Rights Activists sent letter to the Chief Justice
7 January 2010
Individual lawyers, human rights activists and representatives of human rights and legal aid organizations appealed to the Chief Justice to renovate the infrastructure of the Supreme Court building to facilitate the mobility of persons with disabilities in order to increase their accessibility to the judicial system. It is mentioned in the letter that the persons with disabilities are the most marginalised segment of the society. Being politically disenfranchaized, they face different types of hindrances like institutional,  informational and attitudinal. Among these barriers, limitations to their mobility is the main hindrance. Especially when they use stairs, foothpath, transportation, they face difficulties. But as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities and according to the national law, Bangladesh is obliged to eradicate these diffentiating hindrances. In the letter, the following measures were asked to take immediately:

• To build ramp for wheel chair users and for them who are unable to use stairs
• Lift for the persons with disabilities and to repair other infrastructure
• To sensitise court officials about the needs of the persons with disability

In the letter, it has been suggested to follow the standards of Dhaka Construction Regulation 2008 for the above recommendations. The letter mentioned that as an initial step if ramp is built then it will be an important symbolic as well as concrete step to facilitate the accessibility of persons with disability. The signatories to the letter included Advocate Fazlul Haque, the Executive Director of Madaripur Legal Aid Association; Barrister Sara Hossain; Dr Faustina Pereira, Director of Brac Human Rights and Legal Services; Advocate Ruhul Kuddus Babu; Advocate Nesar Ahmed; Barrister Kazi Mainul Hossain, Barrister ABM Siddiqur Rahman Khan, Md Noor Khan, Director (investigation) of ASK; Advocate Nina Goswami, Deputy Director (mediation) of ASK; advocate Abu Obaidur Rahman, Sr. Coordinator (legal advocacy) of ASK and Advocate Farida Yasmin,  Assistant Director(Legal) of BLAST.