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E-passports to ensure hassle-free travels: PM

Human Rights Report:
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said her government has planned to introduce 'electronic passports' to ensure hassle-free foreign travels of people, reports UNB.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing a function after inaugurating the newly-constructed buildings of divisional passport and visa office as well as nine regional passport offices along with the Passport Service Week 2016 at the Department of Immigration and Passports at Agargaon in the capital. She said Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been asked to introduce e-ticketing since the Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) and Machine Readable Visas (MRVs) are already in use. "The e-ticketing is aimed at reducing harassment of passengers and corruption to a large extent." Terming passport and visa as very essential documents for going abroad, she said her government has been working tirelessly to reach passport services at the doorsteps of people. "Getting passport is the right of the citizens and a very important government service to people." With the inauguration of such office buildings, people of the areas concerned will not need to come to Dhaka as they will be able to get their passports from their respective areas, the Prime Minister said.

BHRC Human Rights Report on April- 2016
Total 228 persons killed in April, 2016

Human Rights Report:

The documentation section of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) furnished this human rights survey report on the basis of daily newspapers and information received from its district, subdistrict and municipal branches. As per survey it appears that 228 peoples were killed in April, 2016 in all over the country. It proves that the law and order situation is not satisfactory. Bangladesh Human Rights Commissions extremely anxious about this situation. In the month of April, 2016 average 7.06 people were killed in each day.
The Law enforcing agencies and related Govt. departments should be more responsible so that percentage of killing may be brought down to zero level. To institutionalize the democracy and to build human rights based society the rule of law and order must be established everywhere. Through enforcing rule of law only such violation against human rights can be minimized.
It appears from documentation division of BHRC:
Total 228 number of people's killed in April, 2016
Political killing 20, Killing for dowry 9, killing by family violence 26, Killed due to social discrepancy 63, Killed by Law enforcing authority 11, Killed due to do doctor negligence 1, Assassination 5, Mysterious death 80, Killed due to BSF 2, Women & Chilled killed due to rape 2, Kill due to abduction 6, Communal Violence 3.
Killed by several accidents:
Killed by road accident 225, Suicide 21
Besides victims of torture: Rape 33, Torture for Dowry 9, Sexual Harassment 8.
 

Inspiring Young Women: Dare Dream Big
AKM Moinuddin  
 

Human Rights Report:
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress with addressing gender equality. There are many shining examples of the potential of female leadership in Bangladesh, too. Bangladesh understands well that no country can go ahead if it leaves half of its people behind. Today, gender equality is a must if any country wants prosperity, stability, and peace.
However, women still face many difficulties in Bangladesh while gaining access to the workforce and securing leadership positions. I had the opportunity to listen to four Bangladeshi young women - Mehzabin Khan Elma, Talbia Tanvir, Zaiba Tahyya and Tasneem Kibria Opra - at the American Club on Sunday. They shared their experiences being 'shadow ambassadors' briefly, difficulties in some cases, and their desire to inspire other young women in Bangladesh in taking leadership role. They got the opportunity to discover how a real life embassy operates and how politics, development and trade come together in a truly international environment.
The 'shadow ambassador' initiative paired each ambassador with a young Bangladeshi woman who was selected to 'shadow' the respective Chief of Mission for a day to learn about pathways to leadership and the value of choosing a career of service. Mehzabin Khan Elma has shadowed with Brazil Ambassador Da Nobrega while Talbia Tanvir with Denmark Ambassador Eskjær, and Tasneem Kibria Opra with the US. Zaiba Tahyya shadowed with the Netherlands envoy.
It needs to mention that Danish Ambassador Hanne Fugl Eskjær first came up with the initiative - Shadow Ambassador -, which I find as a fantastic opportunity for talented Bangladeshi young women to experience the daily activities of a diplomat. This initiative also helped everyone know that ambassadors are not people from another world. In fact they are within reach and they are here to build strong relations with Bangladesh and its people..
 

Arson in the Sundarbans?

Human Rights Report:

A fire broke out at Abdullah Shila in Chandpai range of the Sunderbans in Sarankhola of Bagerhat on Monday, April 18. This was the third incident of forest fire in Chandpai range over the last three weeks, according to our sister newsagency UNB.
M Saidul Islam, divisional forest officer of Sundarbans East Zone, said, 'The fire originated at Abdullah Shila adjacent to Nangli camp around 11:00am.' Officials of the Forest Department stopped the spread of fire while firefighters along with local people managed to bring the flames under control. Meanwhile, a Bagerhat court on Sunday issued separate warrants to arrest six accused in a case filed over an earlier fire that burnt around 8.5 acres of forestry in Abdullah Shilla in Chandpai range of the Sundarbans. The fire originated from a point at Nangli camp around 10:00am on April 13. The Forest Department formed a three-member committee, led by assistant forest conservator (Chandpai range) Belayet Hossain, to investigate the fire incident. The committee was asked to submit its report within two weeks. On March 27, another fire broke out in the Dhansagar station's Nangli forest camp area. In the last 14 years, there have been 19 fire incidents in Chandpai and Sarankhola ranges of the Sundarbans.
 

 Trump sweeps 5 states; Hillary takes 4

Human Rights Reprt:
The New York Times :Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton barreled toward a general election showdown on Tuesday night as they dominated primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland and other Eastern states, piling up enough delegates to close in on their parties' nominations.Looking past their fading rivals, the two even taunted each other in dueling election-night events. Mrs. Clinton chided the Republican's penchant for harsh language by saying that "love trumps hate." Mr. Trump was more bluntly dismissive of Mrs. Clinton, saying her appeal boiled down to her gender."Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get 5 percent of the vote," Mr. Trump said.Mr. Trump had the more convincing performance on Tuesday: He swept all five primaries, winning landslides of more than 30 percentage points over his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. His routs represented a breakthrough: He received more than half the vote in every state, after months of winning most primaries by only pluralities. The big night for Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton intensified the aura of inevitability around their nomination bids and created urgent new challenges for their rivals. More significant, it increased Mr. Trump's chances of avoiding a fight on the floor of the Republican convention in July and of claiming the nomination on the delegates' first ballot. "When the boxer knocks out the other boxer, you don't have to wait around for a decision," he said boastfully at an election-night appearance before supporters at Trump Tower in New York. He added: "As far as I'm concerned, it's over." Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich fared so poorly on Tuesday that together they were likely to win just 10 of the 118 bound delegates up for grabs. Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware also went for Mr. Trump, who was on track to bring his total to about 950 of the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination outright. Mr. Cruz is now under growing pressure to beat Mr. Trump in Indiana's primary next week, perhaps the last real chance the stop-Trump forces have to halt his march to the nomination.
 

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Hartal observed amid sporadic incident
 

Human Rights Report:

The half-day hartal called by the two platforms of some left leaning student organisations demanding arrest of Tonu's killers was observed amid some sporadic incident across the country on Monday. The Progressive Students' Alliance and the Anti-Imperialist Students' Union called the hartal on Saturday. At least 50 pro-hartal activists were injured and 15 others were detained during the hartal. Traffic in Dhaka city was thinner than usual in the starting hours. Private cars and public buses were plying the streets and their numbers increased as the day progressed.Students protesting government's failure to arrest the killers of Tonu, blockade at Shahbagh intersection, one of the major intersections in Dhaka, created acute traffic congestion in the capital in the morning.Commuters were stuck in almost all over the capital including roads linked to Shahbagh, Kakrail, Ramna, Mohakhali, Banani, Khilkhet reported their painful experience in the roads during the peak hours.Student bodies and pro-hartal activists were also seen in position at Mohammadpur, Malibagh, Paltan and Old Dhaka in the capital to clamp the hartal. Separate processions were brought out at Paltan and Shahbagh - the political hub of Dhaka."At least 50 of our leaders and activists were injured in the attacks of police across the country. The police also detained 15 activists from Savar," pro-hartal leaders claimed. Our JU Correspondent adds: Police detained at least 13 pro-hartal activists after they blockaded Dhaka-Aricha highway for about an hour. Ashulia Model Police Officer-in-Charge Mohsinul Quadir told The New Nation that detentions were made to clear the highway. 

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Loadshedding cripples life

Human Rights Report:
Amid rising heat wave across the country, the power crisis has turned for the worse since April 20 and the total loadshedding has crossed 2500 MW.
While the people are suffering terribly as the temperature stands around 40 degree Celsius, loadshedding is frequent even in the capital.
According to sources, the power generation capacity of the country presently is 11744 MW as against the highest demand for 8500 MW during the peak hour in the current summer. The highest quantity of power generation in the country's history was 8348 MW recorded on April 9. But the loadshedding has been increasing since then and has exceeded 2500 MW.
Alleged artificial crisis is the reason behind the increase in loadshedding despite the country's capacity to produce enough power to meet the total demand.

Last-minute rush for SIM registration

Human Rights Report:
Mobile phone subscribers are is a hectic rush to re-register their SIM cards with biometric details as the deadline for biometric registration will expire today.
At the eleventh hour, people were flocking to customer care points, flexi-load centres, roadside vendors and mobile companies' extended services at educational institutions and various government and private offices to re-register their SIM cards.
The last moment SIM registration was also marked by server outage and other issues. Sources said the government may extend the time for registration, but it is uncertain yet.
While visiting a SIM re-registration outlet at Farmgate in the city on Friday, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said the government will announce its decision today as to whether the deadline for biometric registration will be extended or not.She also said fingerprints of 1.22 crore mobile subscribers did not match with their NID fingerprints. "But their SIMs will not be affected for this," she said.
The state minister also said 8.38 crore out of 13 crore mobile phone subscribers have already registered their SIM cards with their biometric details.
According to Brig Gen Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin, director general of Election Commission's NID Wing, more than 8 crore SIMs were registered till Thursday night.
As per previous decision of the government, the SIMs not registered by April 30, will be blocked.
In the wake of use of mobile phones in various crimes, including murder, abduction and extortion, the government earlier directed the mobile phone operators to block all unregistered SIMs. But the mobile companies failed to do so.
 

Iranian refugee in Australia dies after self-immolating

Human Rights Report:
An Iranian refugee who set himself on fire at an offshore Australian detention center on the Pacific island of Nauru died at a Brisbane hospital Friday.The 23-year-old, known as Omid, had poured petrol on himself and ignited it Wednesday in front of United Nations representatives visiting the detention center. Under its immigration policy, Australia detains asylum seekers who arrive by boat at offshore detention centers including Nauru, where conditions have been described as appalling by rights advocates. While at the detention center, the status of the asylum seekers is evaluated. Omid had been classified as a refugee. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed Omid's death in a statement Friday, saying that "appropriate support" was being provided to Omid's wife and friends.Omid was airlifted to Brisbane yesterday, more than 24 hours after the incident, with third-degree burns to 80 percent of his body. "The man was taken to Republic of Nauru Hospital for medical treatment by the Nauruan authorities," Dutton said. "He was then transferred to Australia by air ambulance for medical treatment," he added. "The department expresses its sympathies to his wife, family and friends." News broadcaster ABC reported that the death will be conveyed to the Queensland coroner. Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson Ian Rintoul blamed the conditions on Nauru for Omid's death, saying that "there was a criminal delay in Omid obtaining the treatment and care he needed". Speaking to Anadolu Agency, he slammed "the lack of experienced staff; the lack of medical supplies; the lack of attention; the shocking conditions in the Nauru hospital and the hideous delay in arranging for Omid to be medivacced from Nauru". "Those responsible must be held to account," he said. Dutton, however, disputed the accusation of a delay.
 

Torture on Hindus rises in BD: Indian media
 

Human Rights Report:
One of the Indian newspapers has recently published a report stating that the torture on Hindu community in Bangladesh has risen to three times than previous year.Recently the Hindu minorities of Bangladesh have faced several incidents which violates humanity, said Dainik Jugasankha of India on 29 April 2016.
The newspaper said that the scale of torture on Hindu people of Bangladesh has risen in last three months dramatically. Some 8,250 such incidents took place in this tenure. A large number of Hindus have been killed, raped, injured, their families were destroyed and their belongings have been snatched away or torched, the newspaper added. Thousands of Bangladeshis are thought to have crossed the border to India in the recent past following the incidents.
The report also stated that the organizations who work for minority community has urged to pass a law at the parliament to get rid of this torture and violence on the Hindu people. However, Bangladesh Hindu Buddha Christian Adibashi Party yesterday formed a human chain and staged demonstration to protest the recent torture on minorities in front of the National Press Club in the city. Earlier on Thursday, in a press release, the party said that a priest, Poromanada Roy, 75, was chopped to death at Tungipara in Gopalganj recently.

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