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“All Citizens are Equal before Law and are Entitled to Equal Protection of Law”-Article 27 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh



Issue No: 191
May 28, 2005

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Human rights advocacy
Law education
Star Law Report
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Law education

BRAC's Human Rights and Legal Education: A boon to the rural poor

Kavita Charanji

Using flip charts, cassettes and guidelines, 7, 000 volunteers working on BRAC's Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) programme, bring legal education to the rural poor. The aim of HRLE, which comes under the Human Rights and Legal Service (HRLS) of BRAC, is to keep women Village Organisation (VO) members abreast of their basic rights and laws in a formal manner. The reasoning is that vulnerable community members could use legal awareness to protect themselves from illegal, unfair or discriminatory practices.

As Elina Zubaidy, Senior Sector Specialist (Human Rights and Legal Services) of BRAC Development Programme, puts it: "Legal awareness is a basic and fundamental pre-requisite to live a life of dignity. People, particularly in the villages, are unaware of how to take legal action and are being exploited everyday--in the family, society, state and every sphere. If the rural poor are made aware of their rights they can understand when they are being exploited. With legal education, they can stand up for their legal rights and thus gain empowerment."

In its HRLE programme, BRAC covers 25 lakh people in 61 districts and 1.40 lakh village organisations (VOs). In contrast with other NGOs which focus on one or two laws, HRLE runs a training course on seven basic laws: the Muslim Family Law, Muslim Law of Inheritance, Hindu Family Law, Hindu Law of Inheritance, Land Law of Bangladesh, Constitutional Law of Bangladesh and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

There is, on the whole, a low level of knowledge about laws in the villages. However, some districts have a higher degree of legal awareness. Among them are Manikganj, Jessore, Bogra, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Gazipur.

At the grassroots level, BRAC also has a one-day Local Community Leaders' Workshop where people at the grassroots level discuss issues such as an overview of the laws covered through HRLE classes and the means of ensuring the implementation of these laws within the local community. As of December 2004, 8,504 such workshops were held.

There are a number of case studies which throw light on the impact of HRLE. Take the example of 14-year-old Shirina Khatun from the Moheshpur upazila of Jhenaidah district. Desperate to get his young daughter married, her father finalised her wedding with Abdul Kuddus from Chuadanga. When the Law Implementation Committee (LIC) members heard the news, they decided to firmly oppose this move. They approached the father and told him about an HRLE class in which they had learnt about penalties resulting from an early marriageone-month imprisonment with Taka 1, 000 fine. Eventually the members were able to convince him not to get his daughter married.

These instances may be a drop in the ocean. But then every tiny step which can help the poor and dispossessed learn and stand up for their legal rights is a stride in the proper direction.

The author is sub editor, The Daily Star.

 
 
 


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