Urgent Message from HRCBM: Updates, planning and a call
Dhiman Chowdhury
Dear All,
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.
Considering the ongoing and longitudinal systemic violence against minorities in Bangladesh, it’s perhaps the need of the hour that HRCBM shakes of it’s indolence and extends it’s capability to bring perpetrator of human rights to justice. However, this time our actions will be different and strategic with a long term goal in mind. We have our ups and downs, limitations and constraints, yet we need to do more to help despite our own limitations and difficulties.
Investigative reports and for that matter our situational interventions may not be adequate and hence a strategic pursuit is essential.
To this abstraction, I would like to furnish the followings for your consideration and comments.
HRCBM’s short term 2014 planned activity
1. Support to local HRCBM Chapters in Bangladesh: HRCBM-Sylhet and Rajshahi have been very active in various situational activities/interventions and we planned to extend our support to help their position. Few our members already extended their assertion of kind giving to support HRCBM-sylhet for which I shared HRCBM-Sylhet’s activities. If you do not have the copy of that email, kindly impart and I will forward it for your perusal.
2. PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in India: Ramen da had been kind enough to volunteer and passionately pursue the effort towards reviving our previously filed stalled writ before Calcutta High Court with a renewed filing. He is already engaged with the lawyers and conversation is in progress. If you are not aware of that writ, please note that the writ was necessary to create an international dispute of forced migration of Bangladesh minorities, especially drawing upon India’s obligation under international law to recognize those refugees and provide their refugee status officially until a proper resolution to the issue is procured towards the “subjective well-being” of those forced migrants.
3. Refugee dispute before UN: Drawing the awareness of international community is urgent and thus Ramenda agreed to pursue to this end taking HRCBM’s consultative standing at UN to raise the matter of forced migration before the UN Refugee Council. The matter requires careful planning and to that matter Ramenda will investigate and schedule a hearing date as soon we have the PIL filed. We need to investigate many legal avenues to draw upon this matter before UN and Ramen da will lead the activities to that end. I appreciate and thank him for this. Please consult with him on this matter and impart us your suggestion etc.
4. Ordinance for protection of Bangladesh Minorities: Based upon a bill that was raised before Indian parliament, Trivedi Babu furnished the copy of it as the potential ordinance that we could furnish before Bangladesh parliament for the protection and well-being of Bangladesh minorities. It will require legal evaluation/review and modification as warranted before submission. Even if the bill fails to be accepted in Bangladesh parliament, we could pursue legal means at the Bangladesh Supreme Court to validate our claim that minorities are not guaranteed protection under current law and thus needs constitutional amendment or guarantee thereof. It will remain to see how things progress towards that end.
5. Designating Special Rapporteur for UN Human Rights Council: We have earlier given a designee for the Special Rapporteur community of the UNHRC but that person did not follow through or contributed much to our cause, hence we need to explore further to this aspect to find and utilize opportunities designating people at various branches of UN. We will update you as we move forward with it.
6. Fund Raising: To support this, we need your help. We will initiate a fund drive next year to collect specific project base donation/kind giving and hopeful of your support. Additionally, HRCBM will explore institutional support as well.
This short term plan is subject to modification but I think it provides a glimpse of our strategic activities that will produce long term impact towards “subjective well-being” of our people. Having said this, we are as always open to your suggestion and herein invite your leadership to help us attain the goal.
HRCBM has a great standing in UN, and it is also a trust worthy brand that internationally recognize by most of the recognized “Rights Entities”, I thus invite you to extend your leadership to bring HRCBM’s international standing to help procure dignity and security for your people. We need your leadership, please stand up as you often are and make serving your people your philanthropic goal for the New Year. You are blesse and less this blessing shared with your fellows who are not so fortunate.
With this anticipation, I conclude herein and wish you and your family a prosperous New Year.
Hindu Samhati Media
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCBM Calcutta" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcbm-calcutt...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
me...@hindusamhati.com