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A National Convention on `The State of Privacy Rights in Bangladesh' will be held on 11 February 2012 in the CIRDAP auditorium, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The programme will jointly be organized by VOICE and Privacy International in association with Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum, Equity and Justice Working Group, Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum, Susashoner Jonno Procharavijan ( Campaign for Good Governance). 

The Convention aims to broadly discuss the issues of privacy both of it's practice and it's legal regime to raise critical awareness and perspective in order to uphold the rights to privacy. It also aims to build a broader constituency building capacity and strengthening networking through raising voices on the privacy rights issues. This will focus on sharing experiences drawing the interactions from the participants on privacy rights in Bangladesh. This will discuss on how to build synergies and coherence among policies and look for influencing policy makers to formulate privacy policy to ensure and promote privacy rights. This will also present study reports on the perception of Privacy conducted by VOICE.

BetterAid Statement on the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

Civil society have come together as a unified community and participated constructively in the processes leading to Busan, the HLF4, including the final negotiations. We join other development actors in welcoming the Busan partnership agreement on an inclusive new global partnership.

The Busan partnership is an advancement from Accra in many areas crucial to civil society. For the first time since the Paris Declaration, democratic ownership has been acknowledged as fundamental principle of development cooperation implemented through inclusive partnerships. The new partnership shifts the focus from a technical aid effectivenessagenda towards a new development effectiveness agenda that is more inclusive, more political, and focused on results as rights based development outcomes rather than aid delivery.

Through the Busan Partnership, a new global governance framework will move the development agenda towards a broader framework that is more inclusive, involving not only the OECD-DAC, but also the United Nations, South-South Cooperation actors, parliamentarians and local authorities, civil society and the private sector.

[Durban, 6 December 2011] Speakers in a public dialogue said that climate change catastrophe not only pose mortal danger but also lead to the destruction of the means of livelihood which threat to millions of people in the global south to become refugee. Recent studies show that around 30 million people from the coastal areas of Bangladesh, 300 thousand from the Maldives, 10 million from Vietnam, 10 million from Mediterranean Egypt, and 600 thousand from Guyana will be displaced due to loss of land as a result of climate change effects. 

The public dialogue organized by the International Campaign on Climate Refugees’ Rights (ICCR) is held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal today while the civil society groups urged the global leaders to form legal framework for the displaced victims--climate refugee.

Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, convenor of the Campaign said“a legal safeguard protocol should be in place to ensure the political, social, cultural and economic rights of the climate refugees by the international community presently meeting under the Conference of Parties (COP-17) here in Durban, South Africa”.

     
International Campaign on Climate Refugees’ Rights (ICCR)

CSOs to Focus on Climate Finance Oversight in Bangladesh

Two day Workshop and a Seminar in South Asia Social Forum Sets the Tone

Dhaka, November 20: CSOs from different parts of Bangladesh converged at a two-day workshop jointly organized by Voice, EquityBD and Bank Information Center has decided to focus more on monitoring the flow of climate finance in the country, insisted the participation of communities at all levels of project planning, implementation and monitoring, and initiated to link with other climate justice movements elsewhere in South Asia to strengthen the movement in Bangladesh.

VOICE, EquityBd and Bank Information Centre are going to organize a workshop on Governance and Transparency of Climate Financing in Bangladesh  will be held from 17-18 November 2011 at The Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), 24/C, Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka- 1207, Tel: 9123108

This workshop is an attempt to bring together civil society organizations, people’s movements and researchers to share information and bring together the knowledge for the benefit of other activists to monitor the manner in which the Bank is influencing the climate funding scenario in Bangladesh which has serious consequences in terms of policy and planning in Bangladesh.    

For more information, please contact via email: farjanakter@gmail.com, Phone-0088-8158688

Climate fund management

Demand for involving affected people, civic groups

Civic groups and lawmakers on Saturday demanded involvement of the representatives of civil society groups and the affected people to make management of climate change fund management transparent and accountable.

They called for the creation of an independent inter ministerial board under the supervision of the prime minister with representatives from civil society groups and the affected people for the management of the climate fund.

Speaking at a national consultation meeting in the city on the eve of 17th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change they said that the prime minister’s supervision would ensure coordinated action by different ministries in it.

The board, they suggested, should comprise representatives from the ministries of forest and environment, food and disaster management, planning and agriculture.

The consultation on ‘Democratic Ownership and Social Accountability in Climate Fund Management’ was jointly organized by Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh, Coastal Development Partnership, IBON Foundation, The Reality of Aid and Voice at the National Press Club.

The civil society organizations of Bangladesh have considerable level of mobilization experience in this regard. Considering this context Asia-Pacific Research Network (APRN), Coastal Development Partnership (CDP), Equity and Justice Working Group (EquityBD) and VOICE is jointly going to organize a residential interactive capacity building workshop during 19 - 21 October 2011 at Proshika HRD Center, Koitta, Manikgonj, Dhaka. 

The group is also organizing a back to back multi stakeholder consultation to present the findings of the workshop which will be held from 10.30 to 13.30 hours on 22 October 2011 at National Press club, Dhaka. 

VOICE conducted a Perception Study on Privacy Rights. Recently the Study has launched in the Meet the Press titled 'WHY PROTECTION OF PRIVACY RIGHTS IS IMPORTANT' held on 24 September 2011 in National Press Club, Dhaka. The media has picked up the findings of the study and got huge coverage. 

The summary of Perception Study on Privacy Rights is attached. 

Protection of privacy rights demanded

Speakers at meeting on Saturday demanded protection ofprivacy rights of the citizens while using internet, cell phone and other IT media for various purposes.

They also demanded maintaining privacy of personal datawhile providing to the government and non-government organizations.

Voice for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE), anon-government organization, held an exchange of views meeting at the JatiyaPress Club with its executive director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud in the chair.Pointing to Article 43 of the Constitution on protection of home andcorrespondence, they said every citizen shall have the right to be secured inhis home against entry, search and seizure.

The citizens shall also have the privacy to hiscorrespondence and other means of communication, they added.

[Dhaka, 24 September 200] Speakers in the Meet the Press titled demanded data protection law to secure personal information and emphasize to uphold privacy rights.  The programme titled `Why protection of privacy is necessary’ was organized by a rights based organization VOICE at the national press club today.

Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE in his statement said that any interception and/or surveillance of email, messaging, telephony involving recording the conversations of clients’ messages is illegal for any operator. “Privacy” itself is guaranteed under Article 39(2)(a) and Article 43 of the fundamental rights of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.  Article 33(2)(a) entrenches “the right of every citizen to freedom of speech and expression” and Article 43 guarantees “the privacy of home and correspondence and communications”.  

The CIVICUS World Assembly was held from the 10th to the 12th of September, 2011, at the Palais des Congrès in downtown Montreal. Our Executive Director, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, was in town to participate in a workshop entitled "Beyond 2015: Shaping the Post-MDG Agenda." He was interviewed live on the official channel of the World Assembly, CIVICUS Live.

View the interview at the following link:

http://livestre.am/11Mqt

A day long workshop will be held on 24 August 2011 at the CBCB Conference Hall ( 24/C Asad avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka).

The workshop titled `Privacy, Security and Public Interest' aims at raising critical awareness, developing perspective and building capacity engaging the various stakeholders aroundthe issues of privacy and public interest. 

Human rights organizations, election monitoring NGOs, media organizations, telecom entities, ISPs, ICT activists, civil liberties groups, journalists, NGOs and CSOs etc, are expected to attend the workshop.

Rights activists urged the government to initiate district budget in the national budget for the next financial year for the development of rural areas as well as achieving the Vision 2021 as envisaged.

They said that the present budget preparation as colonial top down process and there is no alternative to achieve Vision 2021without district budget.

They were speaking at a rally organised by 14 rights based civil society organisations led by EquityBD in front of the National Press Club on Saturday. The organisations include Arpon, Ahish, Online Knowledge Centre, EquityBD, Eso, SDO, MABS, Lead Trust, Prodip, BNNRC, Voice, Bangladesh Bhumihin Samity, Bangladesh Krihsok Federation and Sirak Bangladesh.

SM Saikat of Sirak Bangladesh said people have no participation in preparing the budget. Nor the people from district level have the means to monitor implementation of the budget. Absence of people’s participation in the process and implementation of the budget has given the rise of pervasive corruption.

Feroze Ahmed of Lead Trust said the top down process is basically responsible for growing trend of widening the gap of regional disparity.

Dhaka, Apr 19: Thirteen right based civil society organizations led by Equity BD on Tuesday demonstrated, held rally and formed human chain in front of national press club to protest government’s move to take one billion dollar conditional loan from the IMF. They urged the government not to take the loan with condition of money contraction and VAT expansion which are anti-poor and against the nation.

The right groups are Arpan, Bangladesh Bhumihin Samity, Bangladesh Kishani Shova, Coastal Development Partnership, Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Equity BD, Lead Trust, La via Campesina Bangladesh, Media Foundation for Trade and Development, On Line Knowledge Center, Pradip, VOICE and Uddipan.

Zaid Iqbal Khan of Krishok Federation mentioned that the government has already withdrawn bank ceiling on loan. This will reduce the loan flow for long term investment and thereby no new employment opportunity.

Subal Sarkar of Bhumihin Shamiti stated that in line with IMF conditionality government will have reduce subsidy in fuel and fertilizers ultimately which will create problem for farmers.
Sayed Aminul Haque of EquityBD said the country still has comfort level of remittance flow and export growth. Import cost has increased but even with WTO provision government can reduce import, thus government has no need of embark on IMF loan.

A non-government organisation has demanded formation of independent 'Privacy Commission' in a bid to establish the rights of secrecy and protect personal information, reports bdnews24.com.

'Voice,' a development research organisation, made the demand at a press conference on Friday on the eve of International Privacy Day.

The organisation also urged the government to amend the Telecommunications Act-2006 to protect the rights to personal privacy.

Different European countries, along with the USA, have been observing Jan 28 as 'Data Privacy Day' since 2008. Several Asian countries have started observing the day this year.
The executive director of 'Voice,' Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, said that the road to economic advancement and the communications of the people were extended due to the Right to Information Act and the development of information technology, 'but personal privacy rights were being violated through it.'

As per the Telecommunications Act, Mahmud said, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and Detective Branch (DB) can eavesdrop anyone's phone call for the security of the country, "but one has to take permission from the authorities to protect personal information, if there is a Privacy Commission."

Civil rights activists and media professionals have called for enactment of a law to protect privacy and personal information from intrusion for upholding principles of civil liberty and human rights.

At a workshop on ‘privacy and human rights’ on Wednesday, they said private life and rights of citizens are being affected by misuse of technology and sometimes undue interventions by the government agencies.

Rights-based activist group VOICE and Privacy International jointly organised the workshop at the conference hall of Catholic Bishop Conference of Bangladesh in the city.

Syed Marghub Morshed, former chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, said the state should not cause any harm to individuals in the name of surveillance and should rather uphold the democratic rights of people.

He criticised the move to track individuals through the process of issuing biometric passport, voters’ identity cards and registration of mobile phones.

In his keynote paper, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud said both the state and the corporate companies were engaged in violating the individuals’ rights through massive surveillance on them.

[Dhaka, 29 December 2010] Speakers at a workshop on ‘privacy and human rights’ demanded to ensure personal information protection to ensure civil liberty and human rights. The workshop was held today (29 Dec 2010) at the conference hall of Chatholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) in the city organized by rights based activist group VOICE and Privacy International.  Speakers also called upon the government to enact a privacy act to protect privacy, personal information, correspondence and means of communication of people.

Syed Marghub Morshed, former chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), eminent socio-economist Dr. Piash Karim from BRAC university, eminent journalist Selim Samad, Tahmina Rahman, country director of Article 19, economist Mohiuddin Ahmed, human rights activist Khairuzzaman Kamal from Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) journalist Shahidul Shuvra, Khawaza Main Uddin, Kawsar Uddin spoke in the meeting among others. The human rights organizations, women groups, CSOs, NGOs, journalists, and activist groups attended the workshop.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on Saturday called for rationalisation of distribution of aid that many donors allocate based on political, economic and strategic interests.

She made the call while she was addressing as co-chair an interactive policy dialogue on quality and quantity of ODA for LDCs and their debt problem in Lisbon, says a press release.

She also called for improving quality of Official Development Assistance (ODA), and rectification of the huge imbalances in terms of ODA per capita among the least developed countries (LDCs).

Dipu Moni highlighted the concern of gradual decrease in grant in the ODA mix and underscored the need for minimising transaction cost of ODA and making ODA disbursement and delivery flexible and predictable.

On external debt situation, she underlined that diversion of money from poverty alleviation initiatives and programmes to service debts has its own economic and social implications.

She stressed the need for full and comprehensive debt relief measures for highly indebted countries and for a case-by-case debt relief for countries like Bangladesh.

Staff Reporter 

The JCS itself declared that it was made ‘in order to implement our commitment made in Paris and Accra’ where the major part of these forums of including CSOs in the process was overlooked. Moreover, the JCS described a monitoring flow chart keeping Aid Effectiveness Working Group in the middle of Policy Making and Implementation. However not a single Working Group includes a single representative of CSOs in the process," said the speakers at the multi-stakeholders consultation on Aid Effectiveness on the Context of Joint Cooperation Strategy held in CIRDAP auditorium at Dhaka today, jointly organized by Aid Accountability Group (AAG) and The Reality of Aid Network.

Chairman of Pally Karmasahayak Foundation (PKSF) Dr. Quazi Khalikuzzama presided over the meeting. Former Finance Advisor Mirza Azizul Islam, eminent economist Professor Anu Muhammad, Joint Secretary of Economics Relations Division (ERD) Bijon Kumar Baishya, Former Secretary of Finance and Team Leader of Paris Declaration Evaluation-phase-2 Siddiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Representative of Reality of Aid Ava Danlog, Deputy Country Director of DFID Diana Dalton, European Union Attache of Aid Effectiveness Julia Jacoby, Women Leader Khusi Kabir and Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Convenor of AAG were present among others.

FE Report

Participants at a discussion meeting Monday underscored the need for ensuring the country's "economic sovereignty" by reducing aid dependency.

They said self-realisation about foreign aid use is "a must and aid money should be spent on development purposes, not be squandered."

The remarks came at a consultation programme organised by campaign grouping Aid Accountability Group (AAG) in the city.

PKSF chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad chaired the programme dedicated to 'Context of Aid and Development Effectiveness'.

Former finance advisor Mirza Azizul Islam said Bangladesh needs foreign aid but its effectiveness should be expanded.

He said overseas aid makes up half the country's development budget and the inflow of aid should continue until Bangladesh achieves self-reliance.

Mr Islam, a former UN economist, also said the country has received aid totalling $840 billion since 1972 and this large amount went to development projects.

He urged non-government organisations (NGOs) to use foreign aid in "a fair way" because they receive a large portion of the total inflow.

The nation itself should decide whether it takes aid or says goodbye to external assistance, he said.

Staff Correspondent

Speakers at a roundtable discussion yesterday called upon the government to enact a privacy act to protect privacy, personal information, correspondence and means of communication of people.

They pointed out that individual privacy is a constitutional right of every citizen and yet it is being violated at every step of everyone's life and no one can take legal actions against such violation.

The discussion titled "Privacy rights and citizen's concerns" was organised by VOICE in association with Privacy International at the Cirdap auditorium in the city.

"Article 43 of the constitution says every citizen shall have the right to privacy of his correspondence and other means of communication," said Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, a rights-based organisation.

Staff Correspondent

Rights and development activists asked the civil society organisations on Wednesday to engage with the donors and the government for effective utilisation of foreign assistance in development activities.

 Speaking at a consultation meeting they said that no development effort, without the involvement of the common people, could provide the desired results.  They called for involving the people with development efforts, from planning to implementation.
 Two forums, Aid Accountability Group and The Reality of Aid, jointly hosted the national consultation session on ‘engagement of civil society organisations in aid effectiveness’ at the National Press Club.
 Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation chairman Qazi Kholikuzzaman Ahmad said it was time to adopt a plan to make Bangladesh, a self-reliant and welfare state, an election pledge of the Awami League-led alliance government.
 He said that the civil society had a huge responsibility to mobilise and involve the people with the process of development.  Kholikuzzaman said that Bangladesh needed a plan to exit from the aid burden.

Independent CSO Watch Group Should be Formed to Ensure Aid Effectiveness:
Capacity and Efficiency of CSOs should be developed

Mymensingh, Bangladesh, 21 August 2010

A day-long consultation on “Civil Society Engagement on Aid Effectiveness” was held at the District Council Auditorium in Mymensingh on 21st August 2010. Jointly organized by Aid Accountability Group (AAG) and The Reality of Aid Network, 70 participants along with the local government representatives, political leaders, social workers, women organizations, NGOs, human rights organizations, journalists and activists of greater Mymensingh region participated in the program. Upazilla Chairman of Mymensingh Sadar Mr. Faijur Raman Fakir was present as chief guest while Yazdani Quraeshi, President of Supro (Campaign for Good Governance-CGG) Mymensingh district presided over the meeting.

Dhaka, 08 August 2010

A 2-day long Capacity Building Workshop titled “Development Results: Engaging CSOs In Aid Effectiveness” held at the CBCB Auditorium in Dhaka on 7-8 August 2010. The workshop was jointly organized by Aid Accountability Group (AAG) and The Reality of Aid Network. A number of fifty participants from different civil society organizations and activists of different part of the country took part in the program.

Among others, Ahmed Swapan, Convenor of AAG, Abdul Awal of Noakhali Rural Development Society (NRDS), Mohosin Ali of Wave Foundation, Arup Rahee of Lokoj Institute, Rashed Titumir of Unnayan Onneshan, Ratan Sarker of INCIDIN-Bangladesh, Dipu Shamsul Islam of Speed Trust, Mousumi Biswas of SUPRO, Nayela Akter of BNPS, Md. Atiqul Islam Chowdhury of Equitybd, Sajjad Ansari of ISOL, Rejaul Karim Chowdhury of COAST Trust, Subal Sarker of Bangladesh Bhumiheen Somity, Mohiuddin Md. Akber of KORMI (Pabna), Dahar Khan of Interaction, Madhab C Dutta of SODESH were present.

Voice has just released its plan, to be implemented from next month to the end of 2010 and beyond, regarding a national strategy for Aid Effectiveness Advocacy.

Voice invites members of the community and concerned parties to download the plan here and encourages comments and collaborations.

An opinion sharing meeting held at press club in the capital on Sunday organized by different network of rights group criticized government policy that have created space of investment for the private sector, foreign companies in power sector. They mentioned that in view of other Asian country experiences it may create more public debts and increase disparity in society. The meeting was jointly organized by Action Aid, EquityBD, Jubilee South, SUPRO, MFTD, Unnayan Onneshan and VOICE.

Lidy Nacpil of Jubilee South narrated her experience from Philippines, and Sayed Aminul Haque of EquityBD gave analysis on Bangladesh situation in this regard. The meeting was moderated by Rashed Al Titumir of Unnayan Onneshan, while Md. Shamsuddoha of EquityBD, Faruque Ahmed from MFTD and Farjana Akther of VOICE spoke on the occasion.

We are proud to announce the launch of VOICE's brand new website!

With a completely redesigned look and a more user-friendly interface, we hope this new website will go even further than the last one. New drop-down menus and and improved archive section makes it easier than ever to access information on our site. An improved custom search engine will allow you to quickly find the article you need. The new design, besides bringing a more modern, updated look, improves readability by a simpler colour selection, slimmer body and uncluttered header space. 

We hope you enjoy our new site and we sincerely apologize for the long delay.

We invite your comments and suggestions to improve our site! Leave a comment by clicking on the link below. 

VOICE continues its work fighting against unjust economic, political and environmental practices and continues to act as a voice for the unheard. Solidarity!

For more information on any of these titles or to order a copy, please contact us.

The Freedom of Press Ensures Governance and Democracy

Download the People's Protocol on Climate Change in Bangla here.

Some 21 civil society organizations staged a protest rally on Tuesday to denounce the role of the development partners and their allied ‘elite class’ and bureaucrats in development process, saying they were responsible for misusing foreign aid.

They [the development partners in Bangladesh, the ‘elite class’ and the bureaucrats] have made the country increasingly indebted since liberation, the protesters from rights based organizations told the rally.

Bangladesh government on Monday began a two-day dialogue in Dhaka with multilateral lenders and donor countries seeking approval of the poverty reduction strategy, a lender-driven development document.

Parallel to the ongoing BDF meeting, the rights organizations — Arpan, AMKS, Eso, Bangladesh Krishak Federation, CSRL, EquityBD, Kishani Sohva, Lead Trust, On line knowledge centre, Protikrit, Karmajibi Nari, La via campesina, MFTD, Prantik, Purbasha, RCSV, Swadhin Bangla Garments Sramik Federation, Solidarity Workshop, Sirajganj Flood Forum, Uddipan, Voice, and World Development Movement, UK—organised the rally in front of National Press Club in the city.

The organizers demanded sovereign, democratic and responsible financing to ensure that the benefits of aid and loans reach the poor through a transparent and accountable manner.

VOICE, a rights research organisation, on Sunday called upon the government to reject ‘destructive foreign aid’ that has crippled national policymaking by robbing it of ‘sovereignty and independence’.
The rights leaders, at a press conference ahead of the meeting of the Bangladesh Development Forum, insisted that the government should announce when it will stop receiving conditional external assistance and begin to prepare the national budget with domestic resources only.
They added that only 25 per cent of foreign aid and loans reached the target group while the rest went to auxiliary and support services including the fees of foreign consultants.
‘The people of Bangladesh are becoming more and more indebted due to the loans given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and thus have become more vulnerable to foreign manipulation,’ Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, told reporters at the National Press Club.

PEOPLES' RESPONSE TO THE BANGLADESH DEVELOPMENT FORUM (BDF) METING 

JOIN THE PRESS CONFERENCE, REJECT DESTRUCTIVE AID

Subject : PRESS CONFERENCE

Title :Reclaim People's Power for National Development, Reject Destructive Foreign Aid

Date : 14 February 2010
Time : 10.30 morning
Venue : VIP Lounge, National Press Club, Dhaka

Speakers :

Justice (Retd) Golam Rabbani
Prof. Anu Mohammad
Noor Mohammad
Arup Rahee
Ahmed Swapan Mahmud

and others,

Organized by:

Aid Accountability Group
VOICE

VOICE will participate in the 2010 Amar Ekushey Book Fair held in Bangla Academy, Dhaka that will continue until February 28th. VOICE participated in the book fair, presenting about 50 items of its publications  including books, reports, newsletters, posters and other publications. VOICE also keeps books and reports from national and international organizations with whom VOICE has been closely working.

The participation of VOICE in the Book Fair helps disseminate information valued by VOICE, more specifically around the issues of globalization, trade, aid effectiveness, ICTs and information rights, climate change, IFIs, food and agriculture and of politics. By participating in the book fair, VOICE is taking the opportunity to build a wider constituency and raise critical awareness among the stakeholders including teachers, students, politicians, researchers, citizen actors, NGOs, activists, researchers etc, around these issues.

European Union (EU) ambassador in Dhaka Dr Stefan Frowein has urged the civil society members to find a way to work together to elaborate common positions and lobby effectively to contribute to development and progress to make aid more effective, reports UNB.
"This is especially true in Bangladesh… where civil society plays a crucial role as partner of the government improving the living conditions of thousands and thousands of people," he said while addressing a discussion at the National Press Club (Tuesday).
Voice (Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment) and Aid Accountability Group jointly organized the discussion titled ''Role of the Civil Society on Aid Effectiveness''.

VOICE and the Aid Accountability Group (AAG), Bangladesh are going to organize a Consultation on the 'Role of Civil Society on Aid Effectiveness'.

Date : 26 January 2010 

Time : 10.00 am. to 1.00 pm.

Objectives: The objective of this consultation is to discuss the effectiveness of aid in the context of Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness and Accra Action Agenda (AAA). This national consultation helps promoting discussions, enhancing information exchange and consensus building and presenting opportunities for wider coordination and collaboration among CSOs. The consultation will also discuss on a sharper focus on how the civil society organizations can play a better role for the effective use of aid for development results as well as the role of government and donor communities. 

Venue : Conference Room, National Press Club

Speakers : Excellencies EU Ambassador Mr. Stefan Frowein and Danish Charge de Affairs (Deputy) Mr. Jan Moller Hansen have kindly consented to speak at the occasion as Guests of Honour. Among others, Mr. Bo Sundstrom, Advisor, Aid Effectiveness from DFID will speak as a panelist. 

14 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark – Protesters from Asia, Latin America, Africa and other regions of the world staged a lively demonstration in front of the Bella Center today to demand reparations from highly-industrialized countries for their climate debt and for the World Bank and its sister institutions to stay out of climate finance.  

The demonstrators demanded that on industrialized countries including the United States, Great Britain and Japan to give reparations for the climate debt they owe to the peoples of the South, developing countries and marginalized communities everywhere. The capitalist industrialization of these countries were said to have driven the excessive carbon emissions of the past two centuries, and were undertaken at a very high cost now being shouldered by developing countries who are most vulnerable to  climate-induced disasters.   

International Campaign on Climate Refugees’ Rights (ICCR) launched at Copenhagen

 [Copenhagen, Friday 11 December 2009] While the countries split wide open on combating climate change, the civil soiceity groups have launched `International Campaign on Climate Refugees’ Rights’ (ICCR) at Copenhagen. The social movement groups from Asia, Africa and Latin/Central America joined hands together to demand the rights of millions of people being displaced by the climate change.

Opening the launching of the campaign, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, convenor of the ICCR said, "global civil society groups should come forward to build a wider constituency to claim the justice and rights of the climate induced refugees".

The climate talks began already, and many of the members of `International Campaign on Climate Refugees' Right (ICCR)' are now in Copenhagen including Secretariat colleagues from VOICE, Bangladesh. We are preparing for holding the launching meeting of ICCR including other events. The launching event will be held on Friday, 11 December, from 1pm to 03 pm at Venue A-yellow, klimaforum. The experts and practitioners from the global south will be speaking at the meeting.

You will get useful information including a number of publications on issues around displacement and climate refugees.

Please book your time. You are cordially invited to the event. Your support and solidarity will be highly appreciated.

In case of contact over phone, please note down the cell number of Ahmed Swapan: 50492643.

A international campaign on Climate Refugee is going to launch during Climate Change negotaition in Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, El Salvador have all become members, and it is open to receive more members who are interested and want to be involved.

Title : Launching International Campaign on Climate Refugees' Rights (ICCR)

Type of event : Seminar

Where : Copenhagen, Denmark

When : 01-03 pm, 11 December 2009

If you need further information about the program  please contact with Ahmed Swapan Mahmud (ahmed.swapan@gmail.com)

Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Stockholm, 23 October 2009 `Democracy and Development' was marked with a lively debate among the panelists during the second day of the European Development Day. The plenary was held in Victoria Hall of the EU Conference held on 23 October 2009. 15 other events and discussions. Some of 15 other events and discussions were also held which were attended by hundreds of people including Ministers, Government officials, civil societies from around the world. Amr Moussa, Secretary General, League of Arab States, urged that, “Democracy is a system that should be promoted, but the definition of democracy must be broader than simply a ballot box. Democracy promotion requires more than elections, it also requires institutions” . Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, argued for infrastructure: “If one wants to promote good governance and democracy, one needs a people that are able to access the information that enables them to do that. In many underdeveloped countries, infrastructure is a major constraint to development Putting emphasis on building infrastructure is very important and that in itself will foster the processes of development.”