Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. She is the widow of former president of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her late husband in 1978.
Sheikh Hasina Wazed is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the prime minister of Bangladesh since January 2009.
Irene Zubaida Khan is a Bangladeshi lawyer appointed as of August 2020 to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion, the first woman appointed to this mandate. She previously served as the seventh Secretary General of Amnesty International. In 2011, she was elected Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in Rome, an intergovernmental organization that works to promote the rule of law, and sustainable development. She was a consulting editor of The Daily Star in Bangladesh from 2010 to 2011.
Farida Akhtar Poppy, known by her stage name Bobita, is a Bangladeshi film actress. She is a popular actress in Bangladeshi films of the 1970s. She is best known for her performance in Satyajit Ray's Distant Thunder, a novel adaptation about the Bengal famine of 1943, which won the Golden Bear prize at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1973. She was active in the 1970s through 1990s as an actress in Bangladeshi films. Babita acted in more than 350 films. After winning the National Film Award in 1975, she won three consecutive best actress prizes. She won Best Actor in 1986, Best Producer in 1997 and Best Supporting Actress Award twice in 2002 and 2012. In addition, she was awarded the lifetime achievement award of the National Film Award in the year 2016.
The Daily Prothom Alo is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducted by Kantar MRB Bangladesh, Prothom Alo has more than 6.6 million daily readership online. According to Alexa Internet, an American web traffic analysis company, the online portal of Prothom Alo is the most visited Bengali website in the world.
The Acid Survivors Foundation is a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation dedicated to raising awareness and preventing acid attacks and providing survivors with medical and legal aid.
Nasreen Pervin Huq was a prominent women's activist and campaigner for women's rights and social justice. She died in an accident at her home in Dhaka, when she was crushed by a vehicle. The vehicle was driven by her chauffeur, who was picking her up to go to work as Director of the UK non-governmental organisation Action Aid. Though her death was ruled accidental, some think the driver was paid off by a foreign figure.
Makbula Manzoor or Mokbula Manzoor was a Bangladeshi author and novelist. Her literary works are considered to have played a significant role in the creation of modern Bangladeshi literature. Author Syedur Rahman cites her together with Akhtaruzzaman Ilias, Selina Hossain and Hasan Hafizur Rahman as one of the notable contributors to modern Bangladeshi literature.
Human rights in Bangladesh are enshrined as fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, constitutional and legal experts believe many of the country's laws require reform to enforce fundamental rights and reflect democratic values of the 21st century.
The International Children's Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children's rights and improving the situation of vulnerable children such as orphans, child labourers and children with HIV/AIDS.
Prostitution is legal and regulated in Bangladesh. Prostitutes must register and state an affidavit stating that they are entering prostitution of their own free choice and that they are unable to find any other work. Bangladeshi prostitutes often suffer poor social conditions and are frequently socially degraded.
An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill". Perpetrators of these attacks throw corrosive liquids at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. Acid attacks can lead to permanent, partial, or complete blindness.
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the first female Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad since April 2013. At 46 years of age, she became the youngest to assume the office.She was also the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2014 and 2017. She previously served as the state minister of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh.
The Shapla Square protests also known as Operation Shapla or Operation Flash Out by security forces refers to the protests, and subsequent shootings, of 5 and 6 May 2013 at Shapla Square located in the Motijheel district, the main financial area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The protests were organized by the Islamist pressure group, Hefazat-e Islam, who were demanding the enactment of a blasphemy law. The government responded to the protests by cracking down on the protesters using a combined force drawn from the police, Rapid Action Battalion and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh to drive the protesters out of Shapla Square.
Irreligion in Bangladesh is rare and uncommon publicly. A Gallup survey conducted between 2014 - 2015 found that approximately less than 1% of Bangladeshis identified as convinced atheists as all the respondents reported as having or believing in a religion. Bangladesh has 166.3 million people as of 2021 estimation.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha is an Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist who lives in Germany. In 2014, she was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho and held by the Islamic State for three months.
Feminism in Bangladesh seeks equal rights of women in Bangladesh through social and political change. Article 28 of Bangladesh constitution states that "Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of the State and of public life".
Tayeba Begum Lipi is a Bangladeshi artist and the co-founder and trustee of Britto Arts Trust. She has received Grand Prize at the 11th Asian Art Biennale, Bangladesh 2004. Lipi is a multimedia artist who has engaged in paintings, prints, installations and videos. Her works have been featured in notable group exhibitions, including the 54th Venice Biennale (2011) and Colombo Art Biennale (2012). She was also the commissioner for the Bangladesh Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011).
Runa Khan is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and the founder and executive director of Friendship NGO. Friendship is based on Khan's model of "integrated development," meaning it addresses problems in multiple sectors, including health, education, disaster management and economic development in communities where it is involved, rather than specializing in one of these. Khan won the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 2006 for work through Friendship to preserve the declining craft of traditional boat building in Bangladesh.
Tanbazar, or Tanbazaar was a 2,000-room brothel complex in Narayanganj, central Bangladesh. Until its closure in 1999 it was the largest brothel in the country and 3,500 prostitutes worked there.
