Odhikar

Since then, three credible elections were held successfully. However the growth of constitutional liberties still faces some chall Documentation and Networking

Odhikar has a documentation team that keeps the organisation updated with human rights abuses published in the major national dailies. The work of the documentation unit is to gather and document relevant information for investigation purp

oses from both the daily papers and personal and organisational sources/contacts, including human rights defenders. Key topics of documentation:

• Death/Rape and Torture by law enforcement agencies
• Death in prison, Police and Court custody
• Instances of Political violence/ repression
• Freedom of Expression

• Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs

• Indo-Bangladesh Border conflict

• Violence against women ( Acid Violence and Rape)

• Accountability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies

• Religious and Ethnic Minority Rights

• Arrests and abuse under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure. and Section 86 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance

• Election monitoring

• Use and abuse of National Security Laws

• Issues concerning Police reform

Every month, the documentation team develops separate tables and graphs of the reported and published human rights abuses in order to determine and analyse the rise or fall of such incidents. These are included in annual human rights reports and monthly reports of human rights violations, which are distributed to the media for publication and to other NGOs. Other activities of the unit include cataloguing material for future reference and research work; compiling information for in-house use and in response to external requests; and preparing such documents and material for inclusion in the annual human rights reports. Fact-finding reports are also preserved in the documentation unit as well as reports from other NGOs, books, journals and seminar and workshop papers and presentations. The system of documentation prevalent in the organisation reinforces Odhikar’s other activities of fact-finding, research and advocacy. Many of Odhikar’s fact-finding reports are the result of pressing reports on human rights abuse. Systematic documentation of such violations and dissemination of information to interested organisations and individuals involve maintaining newspaper clippings and gathering of information from other sources. Odhikar has earned good repute and credibility in human rights documentation, because of the organisation’s strictly neutral reporting policy. National and international media, foreign missions stationed in Dhaka and local, regional and international human rights organisations and networks regularly use information and statistics maintained by the Odhikar documentation unit. Odhikar interviews are occasionally heard on the BBC international and VOA news services (radio) and found in the annual human rights reports published by the US State Department. Fact Finding

Odhikar fact-finding activities cover instances of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and abuse of some specific laws leading to human rights violations, repression against innocent people and application of unnecessary force by law enforcement agencies. Odhikar identifies incidents of human rights violations, which are reported in the newspapers but need further enquiry and information to clearly establish the actual abuse faced by the victims, causes behind the abuse and the persons responsible. While the media focuses on human rights violations more from a journalistic perspective confined within reporting the incident only, Odhikar fact-finding goes deep into the incidents from socio-legal perspective. Odhikar also conducts fact-finding of incidents of human rights abuses, which are not reported in newspapers but are reported by Odhikar’s grassroots level human rights defenders. The fact finders at Odhikar submit reports of their findings for the purpose of documentation, publication in the country’s national dailies and for inclusion in the human rights reports Odhikar prepares. The written reports are handed over to those responsible for research and advocacy as well. Research

The Research Unit at Odhikar is responsible for the archival preservation and enhancement of the fact finding reports. This involves the inclusion of legal rights, available data and statistics from previous years and recommendations into the main text of the fact finding reports as well as translation and editing work. The work also involves the preparation of human rights reports, collection of data regarding various human rights abuses throughout the year and writing and publication of various articles on human rights abuses for public knowledge. Another activity of the Research Unit is to keep international and regional human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch - Asia, Asian Human Rights Commission, OMCT and South Asian Forum for Human Rights, updated and aware of human rights conditions in Bangladesh. The research unit is also responsible for the writing of booklets and monographs based on Odhikar’s activities and updating its web page. Election Monitoring and Observation

Odhikar believes in encouraging the electorate to vote freely and without fear to popularise the concept that the country needs the vote of every citizen. It also aims at campaigning and monitoring for free and fair conduct of the electoral process to ensure voters' rights. Odhikar maintains a close liaison with the Bangladesh Election Commission. Odhikar has been monitoring national and local government elections in Bangladesh since 1996. The monitoring work of Odhikar is not only limited to election day, but also covers pre and post election periods. As an Executive Committee member of The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) Odhikar is also engaged in international election observation. To develop skills of election monitoring and observation, Odhikar conducts training programmes, orientation courses and also pre assessment surveys regarding human rights in relation to elections. Media Campaign

Odhikar regularly conducts media campaigns for the protection and promotion of human rights. The data collected by the organisation are published is both Bangla and English language dailies on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. Articles written by both staff and members of the organisation are published in special edition pages and legal rights supplements of national dailies as well.Statements issued by Odhikar, alone or jointly with other organisation are also published. The organisations website is also playing an important role in this campaign. All the major international instruments on human rights and research, publication, documentation and reports of Odhikar are available here. VI. Human Rights Defenders Training:

In the year 2000 – 2001, Odhikar, as part of a project funded by the American Centre (formerly the United States Information Centre), trained 200 Human Rights Defenders from eight Districts of Bangladesh. The aim of the training programme was to create a grass-roots and local human rights network. Apart from training on human rights issues, fact-finding and report-writing, Odhikar human rights defenders are also given training on election monitoring prior to every national election. VII. Advocacy:

Through regular discussion meetings on various issues of human rights and their abuse, Odhikar brings together various groups of people, including policy makers, politicians, lawyers, human rights activists and NGO activists, journalists from popular daily newspapers and victims of human rights abuse. The findings and recommendations are discussed and the policy-makers are asked for comments and suggestions. In this way, and also through its publication of reports in the print media, Odhikar carries out its advocacy activities. One of the major successes of this advocacy work was the creation of the South Asia Network against Torture and Impunity (SANTI) by Odhikar. VIII. Urgent Appeals:

To campaign against major violations of human rights and also to put pressure on state actors for swift remedy for victims Odhikar sends urgent appeals across the globe through its network and website. Odhikar also responds to urgent appeals sent by other organisations. IX. Internships / Volunteers:

Odhikar has an internship/volunteer programme for local and international students, researchers and activists who are interested in doing filed and desk research work as human rights defenders in Bangladesh. The organisation provides a safe working environment for the interns/volunteers. Good governance:

One of the main focuses of Odhikar is promotion of good governance. Odhikar believes that without protecting human rights, ensuring good governance is impossible and vice versa Odhikar organises seminars, workshops and discussion meetings, including round table meetings with dailies, to promote the issue of good governance. XI. Publications

Odhikar publishes its research, investigation findings and monthly and annual reports on the state of human rights in Bangladesh in the form of bulletins books and reports. The following are Odhikar’s list of publications to date-

Project on Investigation, Research and Publication of Human Rights Violations, 2006
Project on Investigation, Research and Publication of Human Rights Violations, 2005
Campaign for the International Criminal Court in Bangladesh
Project on Investigation, Research and Publication of Human Rights Violations, 2004
Criminal Responsibility for Torture: A South Asian Perspective
Project on Investigation, Research and Publication of Human Rights Violations, 2003
Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court
Freedom of Religion in Bangladesh
Media, Democracy and Human Rights
Our Children in Jail
Human Rights and Police Custody-Dhaka Metropolitan Police
Annual Report-2002
Manobadhikar O Police: Prekhit Bangladesh (Human Rights and Police: Bangladesh Perspective)
Police Reform in Bangladesh
Murder, Mayhem, Land and the State
Breaking the Cycle of Impunity
Women and Children in Disadvantaged Situations
Abuse of Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
Reasonable Suspicion Vs Unreasonable Impunity
Newsletters on the Electoral process of the October 2001 National Elections. Newsletters on the rights of children in Bangladesh.