Rights Jessore is a human rights organization and has been working in the south-western region of Bangladesh to protect human rights of all people especially women and children since 1991.
A group of social activists, doctors, lawyers, journalists established RJ to improve human rights situation in Bangladesh
Legal Status:
Rights Jessore is registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau on 26 October 1998.
Registration No. 1303
Organizational Objectives:
- To reduce human rights violation including human trafficking.
- To Work for to the protection and promotion of human rights.
Areas of Interest :
- Combat Human Trafficking in Persons
- Combat any type of Violence Against Women and Children
- Voter Education
- Health Related Issues like HIV/AIDS
- Anti corruption
- Good Governance
Ongoing Projects of Rights Jessore:
1. Project Title : Combat Trafficking in Persons through Community Mobilization
Duration : January 2007 to December
Working Areas : Jessore, Jhenaidah, Magura, Chudanga, Khulna, Narail and Satkhira districts of Bangladesh
Donor : DANIDA/ Embassy of Denmark
2 Project Title : SANJOG II- Building linkages and local Capacities on poverty reduction, Education,
Empowerment and Rehabilitation of children vulnerable to, or survivors of, Trafficking and sexual Exploitation in Bangladesh
Duration : June 2008 to May 2011
Working Areas : Jessore, Jhenaidah, Satkhira, Meherpur, Chuadanga and Kushtia districts of Bangladesh
Donor : Groupe Developpement-SARO/European Commission
3. Project Title : Prevention and Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking in Bangladesh
Working Areas : Kushtia district of Bangladesh
Donor : International Organization for Migration IOM
4. Project Title : Strengthening Local Governance through Participatory and Responsive Public Services
Working Areas : Pashapole and Jagodishpur Union of Jessore District
Donor : Wave Foundation / DANIDA
5. Project Title : 'Civic and Voter Education and Observation of 9th Parliamentary Election
Duration :
Working Areas : 70 unions of Jessore, Jhenaidah and Satkhira districts
Donor : Asia Foundation and Election Working Group (EWG)
OUR work :
> PREVENTION
> PROTECTION
> PROSECUTION
> REINTEGRATION
> COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
> ADVOCACY
Our Working Approach:
- Partnership with Network NGOs and Community
Our Achievements:
-Executive Director of the organization won AGFUND Prize 2007
- Mr. Binoy Krishna Mallick, Executive Director of Rights Jessore received the AGFUND (The Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations) International Prize for Development Pioneering Project 2007 for the successful implementation of the project “Community Mobilization to Combat Trafficking”. The value of the prize money is US$ 50,000.
- Succesful working experinec with -
- The Embassy of Denmark
-Ministry of MoWCA, MoHA etc
- International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
- Groupe Developpement/European Commission
- Academy for Educational Development (AED), USAID
- South Asian Regional Initiative/Equity Support Program, USAID
- The Asia Foundation
- The British Council
- The Australian High Commission
- ADB
- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Main Activities:
Courtyard Meeting :
Rights Jessore organizes Courtyard Meetings at village level with the vulnerable women and children to raise awareness on what is human trafficking, causes and grave consequences of trafficking, methods used in trafficking, vulnerability to trafficking and how to prevent trafficking. IEC materials are also used in the courtyard meetings. About 50 participants attend in every courtyard meeting.
Orientation Sessions with Students :
Rights Jessore organizes Orientation Sessions in primary and secondary schools to raise awareness among the students about trafficking, its causes and consequences, methods used, mechanisms to combat trafficking etc. About 100 students attend in each session.
Theatre Performance :
Rights Jessore organizes Theatre Performances at union level on the issue of trafficking in women and children to raise mass awareness among the community, especially women and children.
Bazar Meetings and Folk Song
Rights Jessore wants to create a cultural movement against trafficking. Rights Jessore will organise Bazar meetings and Folk Song concerts on the issue of trafficking.
Video Projection;
Rights Jessore organizes Video Shows on the issue of trafficking in women and children at union level. Community people including women and children enjoy the films addressing human trafficking.
Workshops with Transport Related Persons :
Rights Jessore organizes District Level Workshops with drivers, transport association members, transport owners, etc. to raise awareness among them. In the south-western part, sometimes transport related persons assist traffickers without realising their complicity. For this reason it is necessary to make the transport related persons aware about the grave consequences of trafficking. About 30 participants attend each workshop.
Experience Sharing Meeting :
Cross Border Collaboration Meeting :
Rights Jessore organises Cross Border Collaboration Meetings in Bangladesh and India. A Framework was for Cross Border Civil Society Collaboration to Combat Human Trafficking under "SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution". India is the most preferred country for the traffickers of cross border trafficking. That is why it is very important to implement the SAARC convention through bilateral cooperation with India and multi-lateral cooperation across South Asia. For this reason Rights Jessore organises follow-up meetings on the Framework each year. About 40 participants including government representatives, law enforcement authorities, civil society members, international organisations from India and Bangladesh participate in the meeting.
Meeting with Teachers :
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with teachers to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Meeting with Local Leaders :
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Local Leaders, Local Elites and Members of Civil Society to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Meeting with Bar Association :
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Members of Bar Association to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Pot Songs :
Rights Jessore organizes pot songs on the issue of trafficking. These pot songs are developed with local dialect and staged in front of the audience who are vulnerable to human trafficking.
Dialogue With Local Administration and BDR
Rights Jessore organizes Dialogue Meeting with Local Administration and BDR to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking. The main objective of the meeting is to build rapport with the local administration and BDR personnel for smooth repatriation of the trafficked survivors.
National Seminar
Rights Jessore organizes National Seminars at the end of each year with the relevant stakeholders to disseminate the information about the effectiveness of project activities and to formulate strategies for further interventions to combat trafficking in women and children at the grassroots level. About 50 participants from various government agencies, NGOs, donor agencies, teachers, journalists and other relevant stakeholders attend the seminar. Rights Jessore, Network NGOs and CTWF members share their experiences in the seminar.
Meeting with LEB Members
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Locally Elected Bodies (LEB) to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children. Local situation regarding human trafficking and its prevention mechanism is also discussed in these meetings.
Meeting with Bazar Committee
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Bazar Committee to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Meeting with CBOs
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Community Based Organizations (CBO) to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Meeting with Parents
Rights Jessore organizes meeting with Parents to raise Awareness on the issue of trafficking among women & children to mobilize them for taking action against human trafficking.
Hotline Service
Rights Jessore has launched a telephone hotline service under the CMCT project in order to aid law enforcement agencies, shelter homes, network NGOs, CTWFs and the general community to rescue and rehabilitate the victims and identify and stop perpetrators of trafficking. Rights Jessore rescued a number of trafficked victims, referred them to the shelter home and also helped arrest perpetrators through the Hotline Service.
Fact finding of trafficking and other cases of violence against women and children
Socio-Economic Benefit Packages for the Trafficked Survivors
Rights Jessore provides Socio-Economic Benefit Package for the trafficked survivors to rehabilitate them in the society. They can undertake income-generating activities with the help of the package. The recipients are selected from the assessment reports. Network NGOs monitor the rehabilitation programmes.
Repatriation
Rights Jessore repatriates survivors of trafficking being informed by the partner organizations in India. The repatriation process happens with the coordination and collaboration of govt. and non-govt. organization of both Bangladesh and India. After getting the permission from both govt. Rights Jessore receives the survivors and keeps them in shelter homes. Rights Jessore also provides legal assistance to the survivors.
Collaboration between India and Bangladesh
Advocacy meeting with Gov.t Official and Civil Society (Pressure group)
Rights Jessore organizes Advocacy meeting with Govt. Officials and Members of Civil Society to find out the ways to implement the “SAARC convention on Preventing and Combating Human trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution" considering the barriers and obligations of Govt. and role of civil society. About 30 participants including Local administration, civil society members participate in the meeting.
Exchange visit between India and Bangladesh
Six exchange visits will arrange between Bangladesh and India. Five representatives from RJ will visit India and Five from India visits Bangladesh each year to share the experiences on human trafficking and their initiatives to prevent cross border trafficking.
Legal Assistance for the Victims/Survivors
Rights Jessore provides legal assistance for survivors of trafficking as most of them are poor and socially neglected enough to bear the legal expenses for pursuing any criminal litigation
