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Keep up pressure on Myanmar

Human Rights Report
PM to Int'l community, UN
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday reiterated her call to the international community, including the United Nations, to maintain the pressure on the Myanmar government for taking back their nationals from Bangladesh, reports UNB. She made the call when Under Secretary of the UN Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu met her at her office. PM's press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting. "Keep up the pressure on Myanmar to take back their nationals," he quoted the Prime Minister as saying. Ihsanul Karim also said the Prime Minister mentioned about the sufferings of the local people due to the influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar. She put emphasis on full implementation of the Kofi Anan report. Sheikh Hasina said the local people in Cox's Bazar district are in trouble with Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh following the atrocities carried out by Myanmar government forces on them. The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has already faced prolonged flood hitting the country hard. "And on top of it, the Rohingya crisis has become an additional burden on Bangladesh."
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Total 185 persons killed in November, 2017

Human Rights Report:

The documentation section of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) and International Human Rights CommissionIHRC jointly 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 185 peoples were killed in November, 2017 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 November, 2017 average 6 people were killed in each day. The Law enforcing agencies and related Govt. departments should be more responsible so that percentage of killing November 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 185 persons killed in November, 2017
Killing for dowry, Killing by family violence 34, Killed due to social discrepancy 43, Political killing 4, Killed by Law enforcing authority 9, Killed by BSF 5, Killed due to doctor negligence 8, Kill due to abduction 4, Assassination 7, Mysterious death 65, Women & Chilled killed due to rape 2, Killed by acid throwing 1.
Killed by several accidents: Killed by road accident 215, B. Suicide 29. Besides victims of torture: Rape 32, Sexual Harassment 9, Torture for Dowry 5, Acid throwing 1, Journalist torture 10.
 

The censor has no clothes, in Digital Bangladesh

 

Human Rights Report:
Our ruling establishment is stuck in the Bronze Age while society has gone digital. The result is a clash of eras, epochs even, that has spilled over into the media space. The best example of this is the unwritten and written censor codes. Legally speaking, the vanguard of this process is the ICT Act, particularly Section 57 where draconian measures exist for intimidation and harassment. It has become so notorious that even the powers that be had to decide that it has become a bully tool without any leash which was making the government unpopular with the media community. Since that carries a political cost the government has put a coma on its application, but it can be revived at any time should the need arise. It reflects an uneasy and anxious mind.
The fact that the same offense in the digital and the non-digital media carries different degrees of punishment illustrates the ancient mindset of our censoring powers that be. The fear about the digital expresses the anger born of dealing with the unknown. The attempts to rein in online media are so out of date that one fears the purpose of censoring, which is protection, has become completely misplaced and close to being absurd.
Three news items and what they mean
The first news item was on the 'assassination bid', no less, supposedly by a section of the armed forces which was foiled. It created a lot of furore, and many media outlets carried it, particularly from the pro-AL world as the said item said the BNP was planning a power grab. However, this was shot down and denied by the PMO. It left many red faces in media
 

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Bonding over Bangla in China
AKM Moinuddin  

Bangla language and Asia's first Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore have been holding a special place in Peking University (Beijing University) for decades showcasing stronger cultural ties between China and Bangla-speaking people in the region.
Chinese people still practise works of Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian literary giant, and do research on his creative works falling in love with his poems and his friendship with China.
"We'll continue to promote  Bangla and creative works of Rabindranath Tagore. Through this, our friendship will grow and research will see advancement," Peking University Prof Wei Liming told Dhaka Courier.
Prof Wei at the Department of Asian and African Languages and Literatures, School of Foreign Language under the University said they have introduced Bangla Language and Rabindranath courses which will strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.
"Course related to Rabindranath is one of the most popular courses here," she said adding that Rabindranath is being practised in China for 100 years.
She said the role of Peking University in the history of Rabindranath practice is very significant.
The professor mentioned that there are three statues of Rabindranath in China and the oldest one is in the Peking University.
Rabindranath Tagore visited China in 1924 and 1929 during which he spent time in Shanghai and several other cities. He widely interacted with top Chinese personalities of that time.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote this poem under the title 'On My Birthday' on 21st February, 1941, a few months before his death. It goes like 'Once I went to the land of China, Those whom I had not met, Put the mark of friendship on my forehead, Calling me their own."
Prof Dong Youchen is one of the persons who played an important role behind why still today Tagore remains very close to Chinese hearts.
Talking to UNB, Prof Youchen said he felt greatly about Rabindranath and his works while studying at the Rabindra-Bharati University (D. Litt).
 

 

Unleashing the imagination of Business

Human Rights Report:
Social business/social enterprise. Perhaps not ten years ago, each of those terms would've been seen as equal oxymorons, one hopelessly propping up the other, waste gorging on waste, so bloated and so hopelessly bereft of the guile and imagination that the young find so fetching, that gets them hooked, makes them passionate, and then out of some spontaneous, unseen mixture of all those moments and interactions and comprehensions, you arrive at lifelong dedication.
Fast forward to the present day, and we're in the French capital, Paris - specifically its leafy 19th arrondissement. The November air is cool and welcoming, and on a slightly raised dias from his surroundings at the Cité  Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Muhammad Yunus is working his audience like a rockstar on his farewell tour. A rockstar yes, in his usual kurta, his glasses, the slightly Caribbean lilt to his accent, talking about the 99 percent and the 1 percent and what is 'totally unacceptable'. The audience is diverse, yet a preponderance of young people is undeniable, hanging on his every word, in short, captivated. In the intervening decade that we traversed, Md Yunus, the progenitor of microcredit and erstwhile 'Banker to the Poor', has given new meaning to the concept of social business, almost singlehandedly inspiring the movement that has now coalesced around a solid core of very distinct and defining features. Previously almost any act of charity or philanthropy - be it the work of an individual or a commercial organization - could get passed off as social business, which itself may just have been a byword for Corporate Social Responsibility. Now we know what exactly was missing in many of those early efforts - the right shepherd to lead the flock.
By championing the spirit of enterprise that he believes is inherent to every human being, the man brought about one revolution already in the lives of rural Bangladesh, inspiring a model that is now replicated across the globe, empowering millions through the realization of a simple yet profound idea: the right to credit. As the power of his ideas spread far and wide, it would seem Dr Yunus too has grown in demand, with a full calendar that takes him to multiple countries all-year-round, sometimes in the space of a month only. The Paris he arrived to this month is not the same city of old, a relic to its own aesthetic triumph that fulfilled a Napoleanic vision. Today, it throbs with the diversity, the tensions and grievances brought to the boil by a population that exceeds 2.5 million.

China to help Bangladesh earn middle income status
Muhammad Syfullah

China has expressed its readiness to provide all out supports to Bangladesh in the latter's pursuit to attain the status of a middle income country by 2021, the year Bangladesh will be celebrating golden jubilee of its independence. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was on a two-day visit to Bangladesh on November 18-19, told a select group of newsmen that China will fully support Bangladesh's efforts and will continue to make its contributions in Bangladesh's pursuit to become a middle income country by 2021.
He noted that the current priority for Bangladesh is turning it a middle-income country by 2021, and improve the overall standard of life of its citizens through achieving more developments. The visiting dignitary was talking to this correspondent of the United News of Bangladesh (UNB), a Dhaka Courier sister concern, on the sideline of his busy schedules in Dhaka on Saturday evening at the Chinese Embassy in the city. Wang Yi said as a good friend of Bangladesh, China will continue to provide assistances to Bangladesh within its capacity and in light of the needs of the country. The Chinese Foreign Minister said China has been helping with Bangladesh in building many bridges and actively participating in the big infrastructure projects to make transportation and local people's lives easier and more convenient.

 

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