HRC34 Side Event – Human Rights Defence and Blogging in Bangladesh
6 March 2017 3:56 pm
Date: Tuesday 7 March 2017
Time: 12:00 – 13:00
Venue: Room XXVII, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) along with Front Line Defenders, Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) have organised a side-event on which will focus on human rights defence and blogging in Bangladesh, and will be held in connection with the presentation of the reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, scheduled respectively for 6 and 2 March 2017.
The situation for human rights defenders (HRDs) and independent critical voices in Bangladesh has deteriorated in recent times. Between February 2013 and June 2016, at least 14 HRDs and activists were murdered and scores received death threats. The side-event will analyse the current human rights situation in Bangladesh, with particular focus on human rights defenders, freedom of expression online and freedom of religion and call for a strengthened protection of HRDs and critical voices including bloggers and offer recommendations.
Panelists:
- Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
- Sultana Kamal, Human Rights Lawyer
- Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury (a.k.a. Tutul), Publisher, Editor, Writer
- Andrea Rocca, Front Line Defenders
Moderator:
- Gayatri Khandhadai, IMPACT Project Coordinator, APC