Women leaders seek formation of judicial reforms commission

Women leaders had a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday and demanded expediting treatment of the injured persons and formation of judicial reforms commission to avoid repletion of previous mistakes.

They put forward a number of recommendations and also sought steps to stop violence against women and make recruitment processes judicious.

The chief adviser listened to them and considered their recommendations positively.

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Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Syeda Rizwana Hasan briefed the media after the meeting held at state guesthouse Jamuna. Chief Adviser‍‍`s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam was also present.

“Our goal was to listen to all and take their opinions in line with the broader reforms agenda we have. Recommendations came in a broader way,” Rizwana told reporters, adding that emphasis was given on making a priority list.

She said if they cannot bring those changes in line with priority proposals it might be difficult to do under a partisan government.

“We can’t finalise things in a one-hour meeting. These will be discussed with other stakeholders. There is no negative position by the interim government on any proposal,” Rizwana said.

She said there is an initiative from the government for the treatment of the injured persons but there was a proposal for expediting the process.

Rizwana also talked about creation of a Foundation in which people can come up with financial support but there was a demand to do things for the interim period as it might need some time for the creation of the Foundation.

There was a discussion whether a Women’s Rights Commission can be formed instead of dealing with women issues separately.

They also proposed to truly empower the Bangladesh Information Commission and National Human Rights Commission.

On violence against women, one of the female student coordinators said she bears the attacks of previous government’s students wing members.

“I am not here to talk about that. But the entire system needs to be changed so that people involved in any violence against women must not go unpunished,” Rizwana quoted the student representative as saying.

She said there was a discussion on the importance of making the society friendly towards women and the issues of Kalpana Chakma, Tonu, Munia and Nusrat were raised seeking punishment against the responsible people.     

Rizwana said there was a discussion on the overall situation of the country, not just women issues. 

Talking about the reforms, she said there was a proposal to see whether these things can be done through a “Judicial Reforms Commission” so that old mistakes are not repeated.

The participants also sought steps so that NGOs are not harassed by NGO Bureau.

Appointments in Shilpakala Academies and CHT issues were also discussed.  

Interim government Advisers Nurjahan Begum and Farida Akthar; principal coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) affairs Lamiya Morshed, Shireen Huq, Samia Afrin, Seema Das Seemu, Taslima Akhtar, Ritu Sattar, Bithi Ghosh, Sultana Begum, Nigar Sultana, Sufia Rahman, Taskin Fahmina, Meghna Guhathakurta, Rani Yan Yan, Prof Dilara Chowdhury, Barrister Sara Hossain, Shaheen Anam, Nirupa Dewan, Prof Fahmida Khatun, Shamali Sheel, Irene Khan and Nabila Idris were among the participants.