ELMRRB

Project Report | November-2020 to October 2021 | Click for PDF File Introduction: This project, carried out by the Council of Minorities, was working towards understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the Urdu speaking community. By conducting research through a baseline survey the project has gained a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the community. The research findings were being used to train paralegals and volunteers to become ‘rights defenders.’ Rights advocates undertake casework in which they have assisted community members through legal procedures, bridging the gap between the community and the government. Their work facilitates access to essential government services and provides support to the formerly stateless Bihari community, stateless persons or those at risk of stateless persons through a variety of social challenges such as domestic violence. This project aims were  collaborate with legal organizations, engage with key stakeholders including District Commissioners and representatives of local government, the National Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, Members of Parliament and relevant UN Agencies, including UNHCR and UNDP. By working with and advocating before such stakeholders, the project aims to promote the prioritization of this community in COVID-19 relief and raise concerns regarding the 2016 Draft Citizenship Bill. Community Background: Approximately three hundred thousand Urdu-speaking Biharis, a linguistic minority, are living in 116 inhuman camps in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh they are identified in the local society by different nomenclatures, such as non-Bengalis, Biharis and Urdu- speaking. In 2008 the honorable High Court of Bangladesh confirmed their citizenship and gave their name as Urdu Speaking Bangladeshi. The history of the Urdu-speaking Bangladeshi community goes back to the partition of the Indian sub-continent. In 1947 the sub-continent experienced two historical events: the creation of India and Pakistan and the mass migration of Hindus, Muslims and Sikh communities. When India was divided the creation of Pakistan forced many Indian Muslims to migrate from their original homeland to East and West Pakistan. Most of immigrants from the Indian States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal came to East Pakistan (which is now Bangladesh). The majority of them were Urdu-speaking. They were called as “Mohajirs” meaning refugee, and later they became known as Biharis and Stranded Pakistani in Bangladesh. In December 1971, Bengalis in East Pakistan won independence after fighting the nine- month war of liberation with the Pakistan Army. During the war a section of the Urdu-speaking Bihari community opposed the creation of Bangladesh. For that, after the emergence of Bangladesh in 16 December 1971, the Biharis became victims of political violence. About one hundred thousand Biharis were killed by Bengali freedom fighters. They lost their properties, services, jobs, and became homeless and stateless. Over the past five decades, the Government of Bangladesh has made some effort to improve the rights and welfare of Biharis. In 2008, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court recognized Bihari’s right to citizenship in Bangladesh and called for their inclusion on voter rolls. However, the living conditions in Bihari camps remain poor. The Bangladesh Government has long promised to “rehabilitate” Biharis—to provide them housing outside the camps that is integrated into the Bangladeshi community. This has not occurred. Socially and politically, Biharis-Urdu Speaking is marginalized community. Urdu Speaking camp dwellers are Bangladeshi citizens,however, they are not treated as a linguistic minority in Bangladesh. 49 years after the independence of Bangladesh the camp dwellers have now stayed over five decades in these settlements, which is a classic example of a subhuman lifestyle. Objectives: Research the impacts of COVID-19 on stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness in Dhaka, Chittagong and Saidpur. Establish a rights advocate system to help affected persons access government services and address community and domestic issues. Engage in national advocacy with Bangladesh Government and humanitarian actors to address the insufficiencies of the 2016 Draft Citizenship Bill. Activities as per objectives: Establish Rights Defenders Conducted a baseline survey on Covid-19 Impact on the community Rights Defenders activities; Daily door to door outreach Organize community group meeting Organize advocacy meeting Covid-19 vaccination registration National level advocacy on the impact of covid-19 Relief distribution National Seminar; Establish Rights Defenders: At the beginning of this project we have selected 10 community rights defenders from Dhaka- Mohammadpur & Mirpur, Rangpur and Saidpur and after that we have organized a 3 days residential training on rights defenders. In the training we have trained them on human rights, gender, community activism, Covid-19 protection including vaccination and outreach message dissemination. Conducted a baseline survey on Covid-19 Impact on the community:        The data collection for this study was conducted through an extensive survey conducted by 13 data collectors who were trained for interview data collection and research ethics. The geographical scope of the study spanned Dhaka, Rangpur and Saidpur where the Bihari camps are situated, having varying population sizes among them. A total of 196 interviews were conducted and the number conducted in a given area was proportionate to the number of families in that region. The survey questionnaire is attached in the Annex and covered issues including levels of awareness and responses to COVID-19, impact of the pandemic, role of the government and broader issues of identity and citizenship. The study also uses secondary data collected from government census, circulars, and reports, and documents produced by human rights organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, UN agencies and various media outlets. Rights Defenders Activities: Daily Door to Door Outreach Our ten rights defenders did daily door to door outreach and they were committed to visit at list 10 houses inside the camp of their assigned area and disseminated the message of Covid-19, civil documentation, government scope regarding the Covid-19. They mobilized the camp community to maintain social distance inside and outside the camp, using face mask and also wash hands regularly. This was the first initiative from the defenders to aware the camp community from the Covid-19 as global pandemic. A total number of 11,629 door to door outreach have been done by the ten rights defenders in 4 working areas

Annual Report | June 2020 to May 2021 | Click for PDF File Beneficiary Community: Approximately 300,000 Bihari Urdu speaking camp dwellers have been living in 116 camps of 13 regions in urban settings across Bangladesh. Bihari Urdu Speaking community is a political victim of 1971. Almost four decades they passed their life as stateless. However, they have ended their statelessness in 2003 and 2008. A group of young generation from Geneva Camp first time filed a writ petition in High Court and claimed as Bangladeshi citizens and after a year high court declared that the Bihari those are living in 116 Camps all over in Bangladesh they are Bangladeshi citizens and Urdu Speaking Bangladeshi. Bihari Urdu Speaking Community living in 116 in inhuman refugee like camps situation without having basic facilities as human being. All the Camps are urban based in Dhaka-Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Adamjee, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Bogura, Saidpur, Khulna, Ishwardi and Chittagong. Project Justification: However, in 2008, the High Court of Bangladesh confirmed that the Ur-du-speaking camp dwellers are Bangladeshi citizens, and this landmark verdict raises a hope among the young Urdu-speakers ending of decades-long struggle with statelessness. Due to lack of mass awareness on the High Court landmark verdict among the general people and government official, the camp dwellers have not only been deprived from their civil and political rights but also from their socioeconomic and cultural rights. The Urdu speaking camp dwellers are yet to enjoy the citizenship rights and have been facing difficulties to get their national identity card, enroll in voter list, passport and access to basic services provided by government and non-government service providers. Considering their deprivation and sufferings to have full access to citizenship rights, since June 2013, in partnership with Naorik Uddyog and Council of Minorities funded by NAMATI-US have been working to promote their citizenship rights considering the following objectives: To build an effective model for using legal empowerment approaches, specifically community-based paralegals, to facilitate the acquisition and use of identity documents to gain access to rights and opportunities part of the core content of citizenship; To develop robust evidence on the relationship between identity documentation and statelessness, including current government practice and discrimination that may contribute to an ongoing lack of effective citizenship, despite the possession of identity documents; To encourage use of this evidence for national litigation and national or international advocacy efforts related to gaining access to effective citizenship rights, if necessary. Project overview: To respond to these justice challenges, in 2013 the Council of Minorities and Nagorik Uddyog partnered to establish a network of community-based paralegals in Urdu-speaking camps funded by NAMATI-US in Dhaka (Mirpur and Mohammadpur), Mymensingh, Khulna, Chittagong, and Saidpur under the project of “Empowering Linguistic Minority to Realize Rights in Bangladesh”. Community-based paralegals can bridge the gap between law and real life. They use knowledge of law and government, and skills like negotiation, community education, organizing, and advocacy to seek concrete solutions to instances of injustice. In addition to serving as a dynamic “frontline” of justice service providers, paralegals focus on empowerment. They not only work alongside clients to resolve a legal issue, but also leave each client in a stronger position to deal with similar problems in the future – critical in the Urdu-speaking community, which has been marginalized through statelessness, discrimination, and poverty. In total 14 paralegals are working in six paralegal centers in Dhaka- Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Saidpur, Mymensingh, Khulna and in Chittagong. Paralegals are working three ways that are i) Assist to the Camp dwellers to achieve civil documents ii) Awareness on legal education and access to justice iii) Capacity building of community Challenge of Covid-19: The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh is a part of the worldwide pandemic of corona virus disease 2019.  The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first three known cases were reported on 8 March 2020 by the country’s epidemiology institute, IEDCR. Since then, the pandemic has spread day by day over the whole nation and the number of affected people has been increasing. In order to protect the population, the government declared “lockdown” throughout the nation from 23 March to 30 May and prepared some necessary steps to spread awareness to keep this syndrome away from them. Infections remained low until the end of March but saw a steep rise in April. On 13 June, the number of cases in Bangladesh exceeded the number of cases in China, the country where the outbreak began. First three months of country lockdown from March to May our paralegals activities were completely stop because our working areas the camps are densely populated urban spaces, in which social distancing was impossible. Assist to the Camp dwellers to achieve civil documents Paralegals are assisting the camp dwellers to achieve civil documents like Birth and Death Certificates, Councilor Certificate, National Identity Card, Passport, Tread License, General Dairy, Opening Bank Account, Health Support, Education Support, Old Age Allowance, Disable Allowance, Ration Card & Waris Certificate. Civil documents achieved in six centers from June 2020 to May 2021 Center Birth Certificate Councilor Certificate NID Card Passport Trade License General Dairy Adult Allowance Bank Account Disable Allowance Health Support Death Certificate Education Support Waris Certificate Ration Card Total New Re-New New Re-New New Re-new Mohammadpur 761 9 34 11 3 0 0 0 7 43 11 2 44 1 0 0 0 926 Mirpur 539 17 91 37 6 5 3 0 43 0 3 0 40 1 5 2 0 792 Saidpur 165 22 1 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 8 0 18 1 3 4 0 247 Chittagong 164 40 13 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 19 4 41 1 1 296 Mymensingh 40 22 0 0 0 0 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 87 Khulna 52 30 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 12 2 95 0 15 0 0 211 Total 1721 140 139 58 12 5 7 4 80 45 36 4 216 7 64 10 11 2559 Testimonial of

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text] Annual Report | June 2019- May 2020 | Click for PDF File Beneficiary Community: Approximately 300,000 Bihari Urdu speaking camp dwellers have been living in 116 camps of 13 regions in urban settings across Bangladesh. Bihari Urdu Speaking community is a political victim of 1971. Almost four decades they passed their life as stateless. However they have ended their statelessness in 2003 and 2008. A group of young generation from Geneva Camp first time filed a writ petition in High Court and claimed as Bangladeshi citizens and after a year high court declared that the Bihari those are living in 116 Camps all over in Bangladesh they are Bangladeshi citizens and Urdu Speaking Bangladeshi. Bihari Urdu Speaking Community living in 116 in inhuman refugee like camps situation without having basic facilities as human being. All the Camps are urban based in Dhaka-Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Adamjee Nagr, Mymensign, Rangpur, Bogra, Saidpur, Khulna, Ishwardi and Chittagon. Project Justification: However, in 2008, the High Court of Bangladesh confirmed that the Ur-du-speaking camp dwellers are Bangladeshi citizens, and this landmark verdict raises a hope among the young Urdu-speakers ending of decades-long struggle with statelessness. Due to lack of mass awareness on the High Court landmark verdict among the general people and government official, the camp dwellers have not only been deprived from their civil and political rights but also from their socioeconomic and cultural rights. The Urdu speaking camp dwellers are yet to enjoy the citizenship rights and have been facing difficulties to get their national identity card, enroll in voter list, passport and access to basic services provided by government and non-government service providers. Considering their deprivation and sufferings to have full access to citizenship rights, since June 2013, in partnership with Namati and Council of Minorities have been working to promote their citizenship rights considering the following objectives: To build an effective model for using legal empowerment approaches, specifically community-based paralegals, to facilitate the acquisition and use of identity documents to gain access to rights and opportunities part of the core content of citizenship; To develop robust evidence on the relationship between identity documentation and statelessness, including current government practice and discrimination that may contribute to an ongoing lack of effective citizenship, despite the possession of identity documents; To encourage use of this evidence for national litigation and national or international advocacy efforts related to gaining access to effective citizenship rights, if necessary. Project overview: To respond to these justice challenges, in 2013 the Council of Minorities and Namati partnered to establish a network of community-based paralegals in Urdu-speaking camps in Dhaka (Mirpur and Mohammadpur), Mymensingh, Khulna, Chittagong, and Syedpur under the project of “Empowering Linguistic Minority to Realize Rights In Bangladesh”. Community-based paralegals can bridge the gap between law and real life. They use knowledge of law and government, and skills like negotiation, community education, organizing, and advocacy to seek concrete solutions to instances of injustice. In addition to serving as a dynamic “frontline” of justice service providers, paralegals focus on empowerment. They not only work alongside clients to resolve a legal issue, but also leave each client in a stronger position to deal with similar problems in the future – critical in the Urdu-speaking community, which has been marginalized through statelessness, discrimination, and poverty. In total 14 paralegals are working in six paralegal centers in Dhaka- Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Saidpur, Mymensign, Khulna and in Chittagong. Paralegals are working three ways thatare i) Assist to the Camp dwellers to achieve civil documents ii) Awareness on legal education and access to justice iii) Capacity building of community Assist to the Camp dwellers to achieve civil documents Paralegals are assisting the camp dwellers to achieve civil documents like Birth and Death Certificates, Councilor certificate, National Identity Card, Passport, Tread License, General Dairy, Opening Bank Account, Health Support, Education Support, Old Age Allowance, Disable Allowance, TIN Certificate and Affidavit. Civil documents achieved in six centers from June 2019 to May 2020   Center     Birth Certificate Councilor Certificate NID Card Passport Trade License Health Support Education Support General Dairy Bank Account Death Certificate Old age allowance Disable Allowance TIN Certificate   Affidavit   Total New Re-New New Re-New New Re-new Ctg 405 128 16 17 0 0 3 0 30 25 1 0 1 0 0 2 – 628 Khulna 58 36 0 0 6 0 0 0 100 0 0 22 0 0 0 – – 222 Mdpur 624 4 70 4 0 0 2 0 47 3 1 6 0 22 2 – – 785 Mirpur 603 26 172 10 34 6 0 0 48 17 24 2 0 0 0 – – 942 Mym 85 62 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 – 3 160 Saidpur 212 9 10 0 4 0 0 0 4 8 15 5 4 0 0 – – 271 Total 1987 265 268 31 44 6 7 1 231 54 43 35 7 22 2 2 3 3008   A story of achieved lost Birth Certificate……………… Mrs. Guriya a 35 years old resident of camp Number 3, Golarhat in Saidpur. She lost her birth certificate e but she needs a birth certificate to open a bank account. She did not know how to get lost birth certificate. One day she attended a community group meeting organized by Rubel a community paralegal of Saidpur. In the group meeting Guria learned about the paralegal activities and support and enlightened about the legal education. Next day Guria visited Rasulpur Paralegal center and asked to the paralegal to recover her lost birth certificate. Paralegal Rubel described her process of how to get lost certificate and then after paralegal Rubel started the process and first step was to file a general dairy to police station regarding the lost of Birth Certificate. After successfully filed the GD application paralegal Rubel accompanied Mrs. Guria went to the municipality office to apply a lost birth certificate of Guria and just after a week she received

Annual Report | Click for PDF File Council of Minorities and Namati are supporting the community-based paralegals to work in Urdu-speaking camps across five cities in Bangladesh. The paralegals are empowering their fellow Urdu-speakers to understand their rights as citizens and to obtain and use legal identity documents. Paralegals also track each case to build an empirical understanding of how relevant laws are implemented. Community history and context Approximately 300,000 Bihari Urdu speaking camp dwellers have been living in 116 camps of 13 regions in urban settings across Bangladesh. In 1947, India was partitioned into two country-India and Pakistan. That partition forced the religious minorities of both countries to leave their ancestors’ homes and take shelter in Pakistan or India to protect and promote their religion, culture, language and economic interests. The Urdu speaking Muslim minority of the Indian provinces of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orisha  and West Bengal migrated to the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1971, East Pakistan revolted against the rule of West Pakistan and fought a 9-month war of liberation, which resulted in the emergence of Bangladesh in 16th December 1971. A small section of the Urdu speaking community played an anti-liberation role by siding with the Pakistan army and therefore, at the end of the war Biharis became victims of the situation and were forced to abandon their homes, business, properties and employment. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) built large and small settlements Camps all over in Bangladesh and to provide shelter, food and medical support to the displaced Biharis. These settlements, approximately 116 in number, are commonly known as Bihari camps. Residents were in effect stateless, without identity documents to recognize citizenship in any country. However, in 2008, the High Court of Bangladesh confirmed that the Ur-du-speaking camp dwellers are Bangladeshi citizens, and this landmark verdict raises a hope among the young Urdu-speakers ending of decades-long struggle with statelessness. The landmark decision was the result of filing a writ petition by 11 camp residents on behalf of the whole community. After this 2008 verdict, the Election Commission complied with court orders to enroll camp residents in the national voter lists and issue national identity cards. Due to lack of mass awareness on the High Court landmark verdict among the general people and government official, the camp dwellers have not only been deprived from their civil and political rights but also from their socioeconomic and cultural rights. The Urdu speaking camp dwellers are yet to enjoy the citizenship rights and have been facing difficulties to get their national identity card, enroll in voter list, passport and access to basic services provided by government and non-government service providers. Considering their deprivation and sufferings to have full access to citizenship rights, since June 2013, in partnership with Namati Council of Minorities have been working to promote their citizenship rights considering the following objectives: To build an effective model for using legal empowerment approaches, specifically community-based paralegals, to facilitate the acquisition and use of identity documents to gain access to rights and opportunities part of the core content of citizenship; To develop robust evidence on the relationship between identity documentation and statelessness, including current government practice and discrimination that may contribute to an ongoing lack of effective citizenship, despite the possession of identity documents; To encourage use of this evidence for national litigation and national or international advocacy efforts related to gaining access to effective citizenship rights, if necessary. Legal empowerment approach through community paralegal: In order to bridge between law and real life of the Urdu speaking communities in the country, we have been providing paralegal legal support through five communitybased paralegal centers in Dhaka (Mirpur and Mohammadpur), Mymensingh, Khulna, Chittagong, and Syedpur. Camp dwellers and others who have questions or need on legal support come to our paralegal centres. 15 youths are assigned as community based paralegals to provide knowledge on law and government information to the community people and providing skills like negotiation, community education, approach of organizing and advocacy to seek concrete solutions to instances of injustice. In addition, they are serving as a dynamic “frontline” of justice service providers, paralegals focus on empowerment. They are not only working for resolving client’s legal issues but also building each client capacity that they can deal with problems related with access to justice in future. Paralegals do outreach, every day door to door visit, organize community group meeting and community forum. At paralegal centers, paralegals provide information about the law, prepare application in the paralegal center, accompany theclients to government office to apply and they do follow up on delays and denials of the cases. KEY FACTS AND FIGURES | June 2018- May 2019 2,502 Birth Certificates   191 Councilor  Certificates 5 National Identity Cards 64 Passports 46 Trade licenses   35 Bank accounts 7 Death Certificate 60 General Dairies 501 Health Support 93 Education Support 42 Old Age Allowance 3 Disable Allowance Activities Summary table June 2018 to May 2019   Center     Birth Certificate Councilor Certificate NID Card Passport Trade License Health Support Education Support General Dairy Bank Account Death Certificate Old age allowance Disable Allowance Total New Re-New New Re-New New Re-new Mdpur 839 5 – 1 – 4 3 – 74 – 3 – – 42 3   974 Mirpur 673 16 2 – 19 15 50 5 82 24 24 7 – – –   881 Mym 89 50 1 1 3 – – – 11 1 2 – 5 – –   157 Saidpur 279 14 – – – 2 – – 4 2 26 10 – – –   325 Khulna 71 57 – – – – 11 – 61 28 1 18 – – –   201 Ctg 551 49 – – 7 14 – – 41 38 4 – 2 – –   666 Total 2,502 191 3 2 29 35 64 5 273 93 60 35 7 42 3 3,204 Legal Education Paralegals organize community group meeting, community legal forum and