A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Afghanistan to Greece
Continue reading...Category Archives: Bangladesh
Fashion brands sign new deal on Bangladesh garment workers’ safety
Campaigners and union leaders praise accord, which replaces one agreed after 2013 Rana Plaza fire
Campaigners have hailed a new agreement designed to protect garment workers in Bangladesh, signed by the likes of H&M and Inditex, which owns Zara and Bershka.
The accord replaces another agreement signed by more than 200 international fashion companies after the Rana Plaza factory fire in 2013, in which more than 1,100 people died. For the first time, these companies faced legal action if their health and safety standards were found lacking or if they did not address problems in an agreed time period. More than 38,000 inspections have been carried out since 2013, and nearly 200 factories have lost their contracts owing to poor safety standards.
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Continue reading...‘A sample of hell’: Rohingya forced to rebuild camps again after deadly floods
At least 21,000 refugees displaced after heavy rain devastates Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the area
The process of rebuilding has begun once again for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh after a week of heavy rains made thousands homeless.
The chest-high waters that flowed through parts of Cox’s Bazar have exposed the vulnerability of the area’s unplanned settlements, which have to be repeatedly repaired and rebuilt after flooding, cyclones and fires.
Continue reading...Workers return to Bangladesh’s garment factories despite record Covid deaths
Hundreds of thousands flock to cities as government allows manufacturers to reopen, with exporters citing fears Western brands would divert orders
Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers have returned to major cities, besieging train and bus stations after the government said export factories could reopen despite the deadly coronavirus wave.
Authorities had ordered factories, offices, transport and shops to close from 23 July to 5 August and confined people to their homes for a week, as coronavirus infections and deaths hit record levels.
Continue reading...Refugees hit hardest as deadly floods sweep across continents
Death toll rises as storms continue to rip through communities, destroying homes and livelihoods
As heavy rains and floods dominate headlines around the world, displaced people and those living in conflict zones are among the worst affected.
Wind and heavy rain from monsoons and typhoons has bombarded much of Asia. There have also been downpours and flash floods in parts of Latin America and Africa.
Continue reading...Heavy flooding hits Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh – video
Thousands of shelters in Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh have been flooded after heavy rainfall battered the region for more than a week, deepening the despair among those living there. The flooding has affected large parts of the Kutupalong refugee camp, which has existed since the early 1990s but was expanded on uneven, landslide-prone terrain in 2017, when it became the world’s largest refugee camp for the 700,000 Rohingya people escaping military massacres in Myanmar, called 'genocidal' by the UN. While natural disasters are an annual occurrence in the region, activists say refugees there are highly vulnerable to the rapidly changing climate
Continue reading...At least six Rohingya refugees killed as floods hit camps in Bangladesh
Shelters swept away as activists say people stuck in Cox’s Bazar are highly vulnerable to the ‘rapidly changing climate’
At least six Rohingya refugees were killed by landslides or drowned in flooding after rain inundated refugee camps in Bangladesh over recent days, deepening the despair among those living there.
Knee-deep waters coursed through the camps, battering fragile shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin and making at least 5,000 people homeless, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
Continue reading...Bangladesh police arrest factory owner after dozens die in fire
Police chief says entrance was padlocked; separate inquiry looks into use of child labour at food plant
Bangladeshi police have arrested the owner of a factory where at least 52 people died in an inferno, as it emerged that children as young as 11 had been working there.
Police said the owner of the food factory and four of his sons were among eight people detained over the fire that broke out on Thursday and raged for more than a day. The blaze began in the evening at the five-storey Hashem Foods factory in Rupganj, just outside Dhaka.
Continue reading...Dozens die in Bangladesh factory fire – video
A fire at a juice-making factory in Bangladesh has killed 52 people and injured 20. The fire started late on 8 July on the ground floor of the six-storey factory in Narayanganj, south-east of Dhaka, and firefighters were still struggling to contain it the following day. A key exit was locked, forcing a number of people to jump from upper floor windows to escape the flames. Three of those people died. Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the blaze, but said investigations are ongoing
Continue reading...Bangladesh factory fire kills at least 52 people
Officials say many victims were trapped inside the food factory near Dhaka by an illegally locked door
A fire engulfed a food and drink factory in Bangladesh killing at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door, according to fire officials.
The blaze began on Thursday night at the five-storey Hashem Foods factory in Rupganj, just outside Dhaka, sending huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky. Police initially gave a toll of three dead, but on Friday afternoon discovered piles of bodies after the fire was extinguished.
Continue reading...‘Wage theft’ in Primark, Nike and H&M supply chain – report
No laws were broken but brands failed to ensure workers were paid properly during the pandemic, says Clean Clothes Campaign
Campaigners claim to have found evidence of “wage theft” in the supply chains of Primark, Nike and H&M in a report that outlines the devastating consequences of the pandemic on garment workers in Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
Research by the Clean Clothes Campaign found that, while none of the brands had broken any laws, they had failed to ensure that their workers were properly paid throughout the pandemic.
Continue reading...Water of death: how arsenic is poisoning rural communities in India
‘A crisis is brewing’, experts warn, with contaminated water exposing villagers to increased risk of cancer and affecting children’s brain development
Nine members of Pankaj Rai’s family have died from cancer over the past 20 years. But the 25-year-old farmer from Bihar only found out their deaths were likely a result of arsenic poisoning when his father got sick.
In 2017, Pankaj took his father, Ganesh Rai, to the Mahavir Cancer Institute & Research Centre in Patna. Ganesh had stage 4 kidney cancer. But Dr Arun Kumar, a scientist at the institute, identified the severe skin lesions on his body as signs of arsenic poisoning.
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Continue reading...‘We have more in common than what separates us’: refugee stories, told by refugees
In One Thousand Dreams, award-winning photographer Robin Hammond hands the camera to refugees. Often reduced by the media’s toxic or well-meaning narratives, the portraits and interviews capture a different and more complex tale
Robin Hammond has spent two decades crisscrossing the developing world and telling other people’s stories. From photographing the Rohingya forced out of Myanmar and rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to documenting the lives of people in countries where their sexuality is illegal, his work has earned him award after award.
But for his latest project the photographer has embarked on a paradigm shift: to remove himself – and others like him – from the process entirely. Instead, as part of an in-depth exploration of the refugee experience in Europe, the stories of those featured are told by those who, arguably, know them best: other refugees.
Continue reading...UN put Rohingya ‘at risk’ by sharing data without consent, says rights group
Refugees tell Human Rights Watch they fear forced repatriation and persecution after personal details passed on to Myanmar
The UN may have put hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees at risk of persecution or involuntary repatriation back to Myanmar after improperly collecting and sharing refugees’ personal information with Bangladesh, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is urging an investigation.
Over the past three years, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has registered more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladeshi camps in order to provide them with identity cards needed to access essential aid and services.
Continue reading...UK aid cuts to Bangladesh NGO a ‘gut punch’, says charity head
Withdrawal from long-term partnership catastrophic, says Brac, affecting women and girls’ education and those in extreme poverty
The UK government’s funding cuts to the world’s largest international non-governmental organisation are a “gut punch” after a successful 10-year £450m partnership, according to a director.
Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac Bangladesh, said the cuts will leave hundreds of thousands of girls without an education, millions of women and girls without access to family planning and hundreds of thousands of people in extreme poverty without support.
Continue reading...UK foreign aid cuts ‘will leave 100,000 refugees without water’
Aid agencies write to Foreign Office minister as pressure grows on Boris Johnson ahead of Commons vote
UK aid cuts of 42% will leave about 70,000 people without health services and 100,000 without water in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, before the deadly cyclone season, the Foreign Office minister for Asia has been warned.
A private letter sent to him last week by a group of aid agencies working in the area comes before a vote on Monday designed to force ministers to guarantee they will restore UK aid to 0.7% of gross national income next year.
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Continue reading...UK accused of a ‘abandoning’ Rohingya with ‘catastrophic’ 40% aid cut
Children in overcrowded Cox’s Bazar settlement likely to suffer most from reduced humanitarian spending, say campaigners
The government has been accused of abandoning Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after cutting aid to the humanitarian response by more than 40%.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pledged £27.6m to the humanitarian sector’s joint response plan launched this week, compared with £47.5m last year.
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