Begum 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 and second female prime minister in the Muslim world, after Benazir Bhutto. She is the widow of one of the former presidents of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her husband in 1978.
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. 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.
The Daily Prothom Alo is a Bengali-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh.
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.
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.
Dhamrai is an upazila of Dhaka district in Dhaka division, Bangladesh. It is the largest upazila in the district by land area.
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.
Godeliève Mukasarasi is a Rwandan social worker, genocide survivor, and rural development activist. She created the organization Sevota to support widowed women and their children after the genocide. In 2018 she was given an International Women of Courage award for her work.
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the first female speaker of the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad since April 2013 until August 2024. At 46, she became the youngest person to assume that 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 Rana Plaza collapse occurred on 24 April 2013, when the eight-storey "Rana Plaza" commercial building collapsed due to a structural failure. The rescue team's search ended on 13 May 2013, with a confirmed death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building. It is considered as one of the deadliest structural failures in modern human history, as well as the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history, and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh. Amnesty International called this "The most shocking recent example of business-related human rights abuse."
Nadia Murad Basee Taha is an Iraqi-born Yazidi human rights activist based in Germany. In 2014, as part of the Yazidi genocide by the Islamic State, she was abducted from her hometown of Kocho in Iraq and much of her community was massacred. After losing most of her family, Murad was held as an Islamic State sex slave for three months, alongside thousands of other Yazidi women and girls.
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".
Binalakshmi Nepram is an Indian humanitarian, author, and female activist for the advocacy of gender rights and women-led disarmament movements with the objective of arresting gun culture and bringing about peace for her home state of Manipur in particular and northeast India in general. For her contributions in this field to Manipur and northeast India she is known by the epithet "The Face & Voice of North East".
Tayeba Begum Lipi is a Bangladeshi artist and the co-founder and trustee of Britto Arts Trust. She received a 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.
Amal Khalifa Idris Habani is a Sudanese journalist and human rights activist.
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, with 3,500 prostitutes working there.
Fawzia Karim Firoze is a Bangladeshi advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She was recognised as an International Woman of Courage in 2024. She has supported changes to the law that garment workers, those effected by acid attacks and by sexual harassment.
