Training-Analysis | March 2020

Coordination of a legal clinic within the Higher Institute for International Studies/University of Paris 2-Assas, aiming at the drafting and submission of a shadow report on the right of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, to be submitted to the United Nations Committee in charge of the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD), examining the respect of Bangladeshi international obligations related to that specific topic (March 2020, Geneva).

Article | November 2019

Article written by PRDH, entitled "The Humanitarian Crisis of Rohingyas in Bangladesh. Behind the scenes", published in the Traité de droit et pratique de l'action humanitaire (November 2019, Ed. LGDJ), under the coordination and supervision of de Sandra Szurek, Marina Eudes and Philippe Ryfman.

Article | July 2019

PRDH produced an article related to the Human Rights violations around the wall separating India from Bangladesh. This article, entitled "Forgotten Wall, Deadly Boundary" was released in the magazine Humains (ACAT-France, n°12).

Advocacy Mission | July 2019

In the framework of an advocacy mission carried out in Geneva, PRDH participated to the United Nations session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT, session 67), which examined Bangladesh as far as the compliance to the UN Convention against torture is concerned.

Before this high-level meeting, PRDH produced, together with the legal clinic of the Institute for Higher International Studies (IHEI, University of Paris 2) was taken into consideration prior to this review ( http://www.ihei.fr/actualites/clinique-juridique-prdh-rapport-alternatif-cat/).

This shadow report was co-signed by the World Coalition against Death Penalty, within a programme supported by the Paris Bar association. It was submitted to 3 CAT experts during the session, as well as to Bangladesh and international civil society organisations (not numerous due to reported fear of retaliations from the authorities once back in the country). The shadow report would also be found on the following United Nations link: https://lnkd.in/eTfuJWK

On this occasion, the book entitled Bangladesh, Fake Democracy, Failure of the Rule of Law and totalitarian drifts was also shared and handed over to three French-speakings UN experts.

Regarding the content of the shadow report, 7 out of 16 recommendations proposed in our shadow report were taken into consideration in the CAT final list of recommendations addressed to the State authorities.

Advocacy Mission | June 2019

Following a official request sent to the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless persons (OPFRA), PRDH submitted, as a proposal, to the Chairwoman of the French-Bangladesh Friendship Group of the French National Assembly a Parliamentarian question related to the absence of any mention of asylum request from Bangladesh (apart from statistics) in the latest Yearly Report released by OFPRA, as well as on the issue of the recognizance of the refugee status to Bangladeshi citizens by OFPRA, insofar as the National Court for Asylum seekers (which de facto functions as a Court of Appeal), recognized twice in 2018 the number of Bangladeshi asylum seekers as refugees, in comparison to OFPRA statistics.

This parliamentary question was raised during an National Assembly open session in the course of July 2019 (question n° 20362, https://lnkd.in/etaayCf.

Publication | January 2019

Publication, together with Frédéric Oberson (co-author) of the book entitled Bangladesh. Fake Democracy, Failure of the Rule of Law and Totalitarian drifts.

As Parliamentary elections were held in the climate of acute political violence, the authorities continue to work on shrinking the space for fundamental rights, with a fake role of institutions in charge of controlling abuses of power, and limiting to nearly nothing the role of journalists, defense lawyers as watchdogs against the arbitrariness of power. This book tackles emblematic features of these totalitarian drifts, the reality of the Rule of Law, in particular for the most marginalized communities (religious, ethnic and sexual minorities), which protection is at risk during the electoral process and in the aftermath of this process.

PRDH was interviewed by Radio France International (Asia Section) in March 2019 to share some of the highlights of the book, http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20190317-bangladesh-derives-totalitaires-ligue-awami-sheikh-hasina (march 2019). Bangladesh, Fake Democracy, Failure of the Rule of Law and totalitarian drifts was also referenced by Multipol, (web network on information and analysis on international news).

Training-Analysis | December 2018 - May 2019

Coordination of a legal clinic within the Institute of High International Studies of Paris II, aiming at the submission of a shadow report on torture and ill treatment in Bangladesh for the country’s review to United Nations Committee against Torture (July 2019).

Lecture | December 12 2017

12th of December 2017 : Lecture on Rule of Law, Human Rights and access to Justice in Bangladesh, in partnership with the Association des droits de l'Homme de la Sorbonne (ADHS), thanks to the financial support of Paris Bar Association Support Fund.

Conférence | June 21 2017

21st of June 2017 : Lecture on the issue of Rule of Law and Human Rights in Bangladesh, in partnership with Forum Réfugiés-COSI and the Université Catholique de Lyon.

Forum Réfugiés Website

Project | 2017

Following the release of the book Bangladesh. Facing authoritariarism, Human Rights at Risk (April 2017), a number of conferences have been organised in order to sensitise relevant actors dealing with the support to asylum seekers or examination of asylum files from Bangladeshi citizens on the state of Rule of Law and Human Rights in this country.

Planète Réfugiés-Droits de l’Homme currently works on the basis of this initial project developed by the consultancy firm ND Consultance, on the basis of an informal platform of several actors of the Bangladeshi civil society working in the country and in France, in order to release a second opus.