'Implement HC directives to prevent sexual abuse'

Participants at a roundtable titled 'Harassment of women: A directive and its implementation' held at the Prothom Alo office in the city yesterday. Photo: StarStaff Correspondent

Six months have elapsed since the High Court gave a directive to form anti-sexual harassment committee at every workplace and institution, but only a few have complied, speakers at a roundtable said yesterday.

On May 14, a High Court bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Qamrul Islam Siddique issued a set of guidelines and the directive in order to prevent any kind of sexual abuse of women at educational institutions and government and non-government organisations.

But most of the institutions, including Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, are yet to form any committee to investigate allegations of sexual abuse, the speakers at the roundtable said and called for implementation of the directives.

The daily Prothom Alo and Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) organised the roundtable at the Prothom Alo conference room in the city.

The speakers also said that as the directive was not widely circulated by the media, very few people could realise the importance of the verdict.

As a result, most organisations did not give priority to this issue, they added.

As per Article 111 of the Constitution, it is mandatory to comply with the High Court directives, the speakers said.

The High Court gave the directive upon a writ petition filed as public interest litigation by Executive Director of BNWLA Salma Ali seeking guidelines to prevent sexual harassment and abuse in universities and workplaces.

At the roundtable, Dhaka University Registrar Syed Rezaur Rahman and Proctor KM Saiful Islam Khan admitted that they are yet to form any such committee where the students could file complaints of sexual abuse.

"The university is run as per the 1973 ordinance and nothing is mentioned in the ordinance about such a committee," Proctor Saiful Islam said and also mentioned inadequate budget as a reason for not forming the committee.

Representatives of the University Grants Commission (UGC), however, said that it has sent letters to 31 public and 51 private universities in September 2009 asking them to form anti-harassment committee.

Representatives from the police department, Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the media took part in the discussion.

Kohinur Begum of BNWLA presented a keynote paper while Feature Editor of the Prothom Alo Sumana Sharmin moderated the roundtable titled 'Sexual harassment of women: A directive and its implementation'.

Salma Ali, Prothom Alo Joint Editor Abdul Quayyum, BNWLA President Fawzia Karim, Deputy Secretary (administration) of UGC Laila Parveen, Deputy Secretary to the education ministry Mohammad Alamgir, Aklima Khatun of BKMEA, Secretary General of BGMEA Fosiul Alam, Kabir Ahmed of the labour directorate, Hosne Ara Talukder of Bangladesh Betar, Shamima Parveen of the Victim Support Centre and Shabnaz Zahreen of Unicef and ZI Khan Panna also spoke.