Human Rights
July 7, 2013
Published by Arefeen Ahmed at Jul 07 2013
Categories
An innovative approach to legal and human rights education targeting grassroots communities across Bangladesh was recently developed by BRAC’s Human Rights and Legal Aid Services (HRLS) programme. This effort is steered by BRAC’s continuous journey to improve its existing services and ensure positive impact on human development activities.
June 21, 2013
Published by Susan Davis at Jun 21 2013
Categories
Progress can go beyond "inclusive growth." The poor themselves can be relied upon to help make the world a better place for us all.
October 11, 2011
In the early hours of 24 August, after several futile attempts to sleep, I found myself doing the opposite of what sleep experts recommend – reading the news. I was scrolling down the online edition BDNews. It’s a good thing I did what I did then, because within a few seconds one news item got me fully awake. It stated that a few hours before a new law on vagrants had been tabled and passed in Parliament! The report stated that this law “Vagrants and Shelterless Persons Act 2011” now permits, amongst other things, forcibly instituting the poor, the shelterless, beggars and vagrants into “shelter homes” through arrests, and would make it a punishable offence with imposition of jail term and fine for attempts to leave the shelter homes.
April 25, 2011
Below is an article written by Akhila Kolisetty on her blog Justice for All. Akhila recently graduated from Northwestern University and now works in D.C. for a civil rights law firm which uses litigation to advocate for the rights of racial minorities, the disabled, immigrants, refugees, prisoners & the indigent. You can read her original article here. Thanks Akhila!Lately, I have been researching legal aid organizations around the world to learn more about other access to justice models that provide effective legal assistance to the poor. Thankfully, I stumbled upon the gem that is BRAC: who knew they had a ‘legal empowerment‘ arm?
March 16, 2011
“Apney to okhon ashchen, amra bhor choy-ta theika boisha asi, okhono ailo na” (You’ve just come, but we have been waiting here since 6 am and he still hasn’t come) said Polash’s mother. It was almost 10.30 and I was waiting for half an hour outside the airport for my colleague to bring an entry pass. I didn’t know the lady sitting on the floor with two small children - Polash’s mother and his siblings – who came and waited there everyday from 6 am till the last flight arrived in the hopes of seeing her son. She last spoke to him about a week ago, when he said he was waiting for his turn to get a seat on the much coveted charter flights being arranged for the Bangladeshi workers living in UNHCR refugee camps at the Tunisian border. She said to me, “everyday, before leaving for the airport from my home in Dholai khal, I cook Palash’s favourite dishes because he is only getting a single meal each day at the camps”. There was little I could say to comfort her, except tell her to hold on to her faith and patience. I gave her the phone numbers of my colleagues who were working round the clock inside the airport.
March 9, 2011
Published by BRAC at Mar 09 2011
Categories
The below post was written by BRAC intern Annie Escobar and originally published on the NYU Reynolds Program Blog. This past summer, as part of our Reynolds Program Internship program, Patricia Schneidewind (a fellow Reynolds scholar) and I traveled to Bangladesh for nine weeks to document BRAC, the world's largest development organization's social justice initiatives. Today, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day we are launching Courage in the Heart, an online storytelling platform featuring the stories of 12 women who are radically changing the consensus about the value of women by organizing to demand their rights. Visit the site here: www.brac.net/courageintheheart
March 8, 2011
BRAC joins the 100th anniversary celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011 with the launch of Courage in the Heart.
December 6, 2010
Published by Manisha Bhinge at Dec 06 2010
he chorus serves as a beacon as we follow a narrow, undulating path, flanked by very meager but clean huts. As it opens up into a clearing we behold a colorful tableau of brightly dressed women sitting in a circle dutifully reciting the legal dictates that gives them access to justice. This is one of BRAC's Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) Classes.