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This is another victory in the month of victory: PM
 

Human Rights Report
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 31 December 2018 said the win of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance in the 11th national election is another victory for the people of the country in December --the month of victory. The prime minister came up with the remarks when political leaders as well as senior officials of civil and military administration greeted her at her office in the capital, marking reelection of her party with absolute majority in the national election.
Sheikh Hasina said the victory is nothing for her for personal gains, rather it is a great responsibility towards the country and its people.
The prime minister said she thinks her reelection is a great opportunity to serve the country and materialise the dreams of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through completing his unfinished tasks. She also extended her greetings to the country's people on the occasion of the New Year. The leaders and officials greeted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by presenting her bouquets.
The political leaders and government officials include Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Prime Minister's Advisers Dr Toufique-e Elahi Chowdhury and Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Najma Rahman, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Public Administration Secretary, the chiefs of the three services, the IGP, Prime Minister's Press Secretary and BGB and Rab Director Generals.






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BHRC & IHRC Human Rights Report on 2018 in Bangladesh

Total 2450 persons killed in 2018

Human Rights Report:

The documentation section of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) and International Human Rights Commission-IHRC jointly furnished this human rights survey report on the basis of daily newspapers and information received from its district, sub-district and municipal branches. As per survey it appears that 2450 peoples were killed in 2018 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 January to December 2018 average 7 people were killed in each day.
The Law enforcing agencies and related Govt. departments should be more responsible so that percentage of killing December 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 2450 person killed in 2018
Killing for dowry 53, killing by family violence 323, Killed due to social discrepancy 625, Political Killing 80, Killed by Law enforcing authority 447, killed by BSF 34, Killed due to doctor negligence 53, Kill due to abduction 94, Assassination 91, Mysterious death 584, Women & Chilled killed due to rape 58, Election Violence 22, Killed by acid throwing 3, Journalist killing 1.
Killed by several accidents: Killed by road accident 2923, Suicide 261
Besides victims of torture: Rape 296, Sexual Harassment 147, Torture for Dowry 61, Journalist Torture 30, Acid throwing 30.



 

Modi greets Hasina on re-election 
 

Human Rights Report:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and extended his heartfelt congratulations to her on securing her party's absolute majority in the 11th parliamentary elections.
"The Indian premier called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at about 10:30am and congratulated her, the Awami League and the people of Bangladesh on securing her party's absolute majority in the national elections held on Sunday," PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told BSS.
"The victory of the Awami League in the polls is a reflection of stunning development that Bangladesh attained under your dynamic leadership," Modi said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee also congratulated Sheikh Hasina on her win in a Twitter post. .


 

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Indonesia rescuers scramble to reach isolated tsunami-struck towns
 

Human Rights Report:

Indonesian search and rescue teams Wednesday plucked stranded residents from remote islands and pushed into isolated communities still desperate for aid in the aftermath of a volcano-triggered tsunami that killed more than 400.
Medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies were running low - stoking fears of a public health crisis - as thousands of displaced survivors cram shelters and hospitals. Many were left homeless by the killer wave.
The disaster agency said it has dispatched helicopters to drop supplies into a handful of hard-to-reach communities along the shattered coastlines of western Java and south Sumatra.
Hundreds of residents still stranded on tiny islands in the Sunda Strait, which separates Java and Sumatra, will be airlifted or taken by boat to shelters, the agency said.
Sniffer dogs are being used to find those still missing as grief-stricken relatives lined up at identification centres, but hopes of finding any survivors beneath the rubble have dwindled.
"We're starting to access the most isolated places hit by the tsunami," said senior disaster agency official Dody Ruswandi.
"The devastation there is pretty massive, but we had not been able to get in there in the first couple of days."
Some roads and bridges near isolated communities had been damaged, making road access more difficult, he added.
The powerful tsunami struck Saturday night without warning, sweeping over popular beaches and inundating tourist hotels and coastal communities, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
The latest death toll stood at 429, with 1,485 people injured and another 154 still missing.
- 'Broken homes, broken bones' -
An eruption of the rumbling Anak Krakatoa volcano, which sits in the middle of the Strait separating Java and Sumatra, caused a section of the crater to collapse and slide into the ocean, triggering the tsunami, officials have said.



 

 

JOF rejects results, demands reelection

Human Rights Report:

Jatiya Oikya Front has rejected the 11th parliament polls and demanded a fresh election immediately.
"We demand fresh polls under a non-party, neutral caretaker government," Dr Kamal Hossain, convener of Oikya Front, said at a press conference in front of his Baily road residence in the capital at around 8pm on Sunday.
Terming the election farcical, he demanded the election result be cancelled immediately.
"We are rejecting the poll results and calling upon the Election Commission to hold a fresh election as early as possible."
At the press conference, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir echoed the same as Dr Kamal.
He said: "We are rejecting the total election. The election is nothing but a mockery."
The election proved that BNP's decision of boycotting the 10th parliament election held on January 5, 2014 was right, he claimed.
Though Oikya Front itself didn't boycott the polls till last time, more than 50 candidates of the alliance boycotted the election.
Talking to reporters at Saidpur Airport in Nilphamari when he was returning to Dhaka from Thakurgaon after voting ended at 4:00pm on Sunday, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the election has become a 'mockery' and alleged that the ruling party men and police worked together during the election.
Earlier after visiting some polling centers in Thakurgaon, the BNP leader claimed that people were obstructed from going to polling centres and it was done with the help of the administration.
He added that people have no confidence in the Election Commission, administration and the state institutions.
"The most pathetic thing is that all these things are being done keeping the army men standing like statues. I think it is also tainting the reputation of army," he said.
Addressing two phases of press conference at the BNP central office in Nayapaltan of the capital, BNP senior joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the ruling party men resorted to violence and widespread irregularities, including stuffing ballot boxes, driving out BNP polling agents and capturing polling stations across the country.
 
 

Limited freedom, limited journalism
 

Human Rights Report:
Few media practitioners, be they be, Editors or workers are happy with the state of media in Bangladesh. Current unhappiness is about political freedom and space. Media is also split between those who are actively pro-current Government and those against it. Some of them have such a long record of being activists in one form of other of one party or the other that it's useless to discuss who is close and who are distant from which one.
But the fact is one set thinks that the situation is "terrible' and the other thinks its "terrific" is also a sign post of the issue. Perhaps the problem is not about media even. It's not even about freedom as much as it's about the right to be partisan. What ails media afflicts much of Bangladesh's activist society, bred more by loyalty than logic.
Media components
There are three players in the media world: The owners, the Editors and the workers. However, these are overlapping categories meaning, some wear all three shoes and some wear two and some only one. Interestingly a few wear none at all. But each represent a section which becomes the pot in which all the stakes are kept. The media is not one monolithic world. It's made up of many realities and what means censorship or freedom is not universal. A commitment to freedom of media as a matter of principle probably doesn't exist.
The owners are the one who comes closest to being the principal stakeholder as he is the one who invests money. He makes most of this money from government connections so he is careful not to upset them.

Major parties ignore children in their election manifestos

Both political parties and alliances are very vote focused in their manifesto which is power. And that is why all attention is being paid to the adult voters. Not surprisingly, after years of advocacy, it's obvious that political parties are not very moved by the state of what has been promised and kept as far as children are concerned.
Although , Bangladesh has been "chided" at the UN Child Right Committee for the last five years for failing to finish the agenda promised, political parties that is current and future governments have not recognized children as priorities as per their electoral declarations. While Bangladesh has been quick to sign the dotted lines on many international protocols, they have been less active in keeping the commitments made on the same page.
Bangladesh has certainly made progress but the progress has always been measured in aggregate data and doesn't show how it affects two very vulnerable groups, women and children. While it's true that parties have made promises on improving the life of adult women, fact remains, one of the most at bay group are adolescent girls who suffer from some of the most difficult lives in Bangladesh compared to what has been possible to achieve. And Bangladesh is failing them.
Some major concerns
Some major issues have been pointed out by many agencies which fail to make any media noise. Malnutrition, early marriage and access to rights to education are safety are key issues that has been lost in the electoral noise.


 

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