sustainable peace and harmony in the society
VOICE, a human rights-based research and advocacy organization, conducted an event titled “Freedom,
Equality and Justice for All” to celebrate Human Rights Day 2023 on occasion of 75 th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event took place at VOICE’s Civic Center, Shyamoli in the
capital and was attended by human rights defenders, civil society organizations, media, activists, women
and youth.
VOICE has been working in line with the cornerstones of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights i.e.,
to infuse societies with equality, fundamental freedoms and justice for last twenty-two years. This year,
VOICE is inspired by the themes of Human Rights Day. The commemoration is coined by motivating
knowledge creation to promote universality and indivisibility of human rights, especially among young
people, encouraging people to call for shared movements and thus empowering them to fight for their
rights and take required action. Speakers at the event reiterate that, Bangladesh has ratified eight major
human rights treaties and been elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for
the fourth time. Therefore, human rights need to be protected and promoted in the country at any cost.
Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Executive Director of VOICE presided over the event and shared the
organization’s concerns about the human rights situation in Bangladesh. Ahmed Swapan stated, “we are
living in a situation where concerns over human rights violations in Bangladesh have been pivotal in
external and internal development discourses. Human rights defenders including journalists, civil society
organizations, etc. had to brace self-censorship that hinders the usual scope of work to raise critical
voice.”
Speakers stressed that, human rights defenders, journalists along with women are prone to fall victims
of human rights violation. Women rights are human rights and has been facing challenges every now
and then. Referring a number of statistics and reports, Musharrat Mahera, Deputy Director of VOICE
detailed out that, 276 journalists were harassed over the period of January to November 2023. 539
women were raped, 201 were murdered by domestic violence, 136 were harassed while 108 attacks
took place on houses of religious minority community. Alarmingly, 978 children were harassed and 456
were killed. It also has been pointed out that, while Bangladesh declared to be promoted as a middle-
income country in recent times, concerns over human rights protection will negatively impact the
country’s image worldwide.
The discussion highlighted the duties of the government for an enabling environment to promote and
protect human rights. It finally emphasized that the citizens along with civil society organizations need
to act responsibly, exercise human rights and take practical actions for restoring peace and harmony to
bring about sustainable development.
Among others, senior journalists Ramen Biswas, Kawsar Uddin, Priangka Acharjee, Rasel Mahmud spoke
at the event.
