17 September 2011, Dhaka. BRAC’s Human Rights and Legal Aid Services (HRLS) Programme in association with partners Ain o Shalish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST), Nijera Kori, and Action on Disability and Development (ADD) organised a roundtable discussion titled ‘Vagrants’ and Shelterless Persons (Rehabilitation) Act 2011 to address and protest the gaps that the current law comprises especially in light of upholding human rights of this vulnerable community.
The event was held at the Reporters’ Unity at Shegunbagicha, Dhaka and was presided over by Chief Guest, Dr. Mizanur Rahman - Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The Chair of the session, Khushi Kabir - coordinator of Nijera Kori, along with distinguished panelists presented a set of recommendations to revise the current rehabilitative law which will be submitted to the parliamentary standing committee responsible for reviewing the Act before presenting it to Parliament.
As one of the esteemed panelists during an open discussion at the Roundtable, Dr. Faustina Pereira - Director, HRLS Programme expressed her concern for both the process through which this Act has been passed and its content which is disgraceful and humiliating for deprived and dispossessed sections of citizens. Along with this, she urged that the law be accessed through initiating consultations with affected persons, practitioners and agencies involved in providing support to the poor.
