Bangladesh: Sazzad Hussein of Odhikar on Women's Rights

Bangladesh: Sazzad Hussein of Odhikar on Women's Rights
Stine Eckert, Pulitzer Student Fellow

With just eleven paid staff members and an army of 200 volunteers, Dhaka-based NGO Odhikar has been monitoring the violation of human rights in Bangladesh since 1994. Its monthly and annual reports are used by foreign embassies and media to also keep track of violations such as extra-judicial killings, torture as well as rape, dowry, and acid crimes. In 2008 the U.S. State Department honored Odhikar, which means rights in Bengali, with the runner-up prize of its Freedom Defenders award. One of the foci of Odhikar, which rejects donations to stay independent, are violations of women's rights. Odhikar Program Coordinator Sazzad Hussein says it's good that with Sheik Hasina for the Awami League and Begum Khaleda Zia for the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) two females lead the major parties in the country, but being a woman doesn't mean that politics change for the rest of the female population. Despite repeated attempts to initiate projects to advance women little has changed in politics over the past 15 years he says in an interview