Bangladesh

One World Action has been working with Nagorik Uddyog (NU) for over ten years. Nagorik Uddyog or 'Citizens Initiative’ is a human rights organisation based in Dhaka. It works across Bangladesh to strengthen local government, to raise awareness of people’s basic human rights and to build people’s capacity to pursue and realise these rights. Nagorik Uddyog recognises that democratic elections in Bangladesh will, by themselves be insufficient to fulfil democracy and that poor, marginalised and disadvantaged women and men must be given the power to participate in, and contribute to, the decision-making processes that affect their lives.

One World Action was the first international agency to support NU and has been doing so since NU was established in 1995. NU in partnership with One World Action has been at the forefront in transforming the Shalish (traditional village courts) into a more equitable system for resolving disputes and developing people’s awareness of their rights - this programme has brought about unprecedented access to justice for rural women. One World Action is currently working with NU to support and organise informal women workers in Dhaka and to popularise and implement the recent Right to Information Act.

Visit Nagorik Uddyog’s website here.

In 2006, Nagorik Uddyog and One World Action formed a coalition of grassroots women’s organisations called the Partnership of Women in Action (PaWA). PaWA are improving the lives of some of the poorest women in Dhaka and campaigning to ensure that women informal workers become visible, valued and protected.

Read more about PaWA in this report "Getting it Right - Struggles, Stories and Strategies from Dhaka' s Informal Women Workers", that shows the strategies PaWA have developed to improve the lives of women workers, and their policy recommendations.

Read an article about One World Action’s work with PaWA in The Independent here.

National Conference on the role of informal women workers in Bangladesh

In October 2009, PaWA held a national conference on “The role of the informal sector in the Bangladesh economy, and the social and legal protection of informal sector workers.” Over two days participants discussed the concerns of workers and developed recommendations.

Read the brochure of the event here.

Bangladesh Dalit Human Rights (BDHR) is a people’s organisation led by Dalit activists with strong relationships with Dalit organisations across Bangladesh. Caste discrimination is usually associated with India but there are an estimated 3.5-5.5 million Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, living in Bangladesh (2.5-4% of the total population). The majority are landless, and live in chronic poverty in rural areas or urban slums.

They are deprived or actively excluded from adequate housing, health care, education, employment and participation in public life. Approximately 96% are illiterate. Dalit communities experience daily insecurity and violence with usually no recourse to justice. Dalit women, excluded both by caste and gender, face multiple forms of discrimination, untouchability and violence.

One World Action is currently supporting Bangladesh Dalit Human Rights (BDHR) to protect and promote the rights of Dalits, to raise awareness about the issue and to lobby for the equal treatment of Dalits, and for their inclusion in development policies and programmes.

In April 2008, Bangladesh Dalit Human Rights (BDHR) and Nagorik Uddyog organised a joint national consultation entitled ‘Dalit and Socially Excluded Communities: Problems and Possible Ways Forward’ in Dhaka. Read more about the consultation in this summary report .

In January 2009, the Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement (BDERM) and Nagorik Uddyog organised in Dhaka the first National Human Rights Conference of Dalit and Socially Excluded Communities in Bangladesh.

It was attended by 254 women and men, and focussed on promoting, protecting and campaigning for Dalit rights. Read the summary report of the First National Human Rights Conference of Dalit and Socially Excluded Communities in Bangladesh here.

Watch ‘Defiant Voices’ - a landmark online photo exhibition illustrating the daily lives of Dalit communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Read more in the International Dalit Solidarity Network’s factsheet on Bangladesh here.

See a photo exhibition about caste discrimination by International Dalit Solidarity Network 'We Are Not Untouchable' here.

Read an article about One World Action’s work with BDHR in The Independent here.

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Towards a Comprehensive Framework to Eliminate Caste Discrimination in the 21^st Century

On the 10^th November 2009, the draft UN Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination Based on Work and Descent, were launched in the UK Houses of Parliament. The event was organised by One World Action and the Dalit Solidarity Network UK.

Bangladesh

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