A two days long Annual Regional Conference with Human Rights Defenders Forum was organised by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) from 27 to 28 September, 2019 at Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra, Adabar, Dhaka. Human Rights Defenders Forum (HRDF) is working in 11 districts all over Bangladesh. Two participants from each district attended the conference. The conference was divided into multiple effective sessions and discussions.
On 27 September 2019, the opening speech of the conference was given by Sheepa Hafiza, Executive Director, ASK, where she encouraged the participants to raise their voice and explained the importance and power of unity. She further expressed her hope to continue working together in order to spread human rights activism. Following the inaugural speech, Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir, Sr Coordinator, Advocacy and Networking, ASK shared about the current situation of Human Rights in Bangladesh. Multiple aspects as well as a comparison of the current human rights condition with the earlier year was presented through his session.
The following session was regarding the activities of HRDF. This session was coordinated by Anirban Saha, Senior Investigator, ASK, and presided by Advocate Liakot Ali, Senior HRDF member, Dinajpur. In this session, participants from each district discussed about their year-round activities, the number of fact findings conducted already, along with submitting the reports on the human rights situation in their respective districts. Following this session, the duties and responsibilities of a human rights activist were shared by Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir.
The first day of the conference ended with a session on group work, which was conducted by Anirban Saha and Hasibur Rahman, Investigator, ASK, where the participants identified the challenges and risks they face during their fact finding missions, such as- communication issues; lack of assistance and cooperation from authorities, and sometimes victim families; security barriers; language barriers, etc.
The next day of the Conference, on 28 September 2019, commenced with the session on ‘Gender Sensitivity and Human Rights’ which was conducted by Momy Monjuri Chowdhury, Assistant Coordinator, Training Programme, ASK. The necessity of diversity, acknowledging equity and equality, recognising discrimination in our day to day life due to the socially constructed roles, etc., were discussed throughout the session through various activities. Following this session, Anirban Saha and Faria Iffat Mim, Investigator, ASK discussed about the HRDF Guidelines on the formation of a committee, the qualification, eligibility and non-eligibility of becoming a HRDF member, etc. Later, a session on ‘Recommendations and Future Activities of the HRDF members’ was conducted by Abu Ahmed Faizul Kabir, where participants from each district gave their own recommendations and suggestions to strengthen their activities.
The conference was concluded by Nina Goswami, Senior Deputy Director, ASK, thanking all the participants for their active participation throughout the conference and ensuring that all the suggestions and recommendations shall be kept in mind in order to incorporate them in the future activities.
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