Aiming to observe World Human Rights Day, Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN) organised a human chain on 10 December 2009 in the morning at Shahbagh area in the capital. The human chain was organised demanding the establishment of human rights for the domestic workers, bringing them under Labour Law-2006 and approving the 'Code of Conduct for Domestic Workers'. Hasanul haq Inu, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee for Post, Telecommunication and telegraph Ministry, Md. Israfil Alam, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee for Labour and Employment Ministry, Dr. Wajedul Islam Khan, Coordinator, SKOP, Shirin Akhter, President, Karmajibi Nari and representatives from different trade union federations, human rights organisations and netwoek organisatios were present at the human chain.  Speakers at the event said, bringing domestic workers under labour law is under active consideration of the government. They further said, as domestic workers have voting right, therefore, they have iqual rights to get status as labour. They pleaded to everybody to come forward for the establishment of domestic workers rights. 

Production system of industrial sectors has to be changed to address the affect of climate change and trade union can play important role on it.  Bangladesh has already become the victim of climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to take immediate step to tackle the issue. Speakers said this at the inaugural session of a 3-day national seminar titled "Trade Union Debate around Climate Change. The session was held on Saturday, 24 October 2009 at BIAM Auditorium in the capital.  Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies-BILS, LO (Denmark) and Sustainlabour (Spain) jointly organised the seminar. Dr. Md. Abdur Razzaque, M.P, Minister for Food and Disaster Management was present as chief guest at the inaugural session while Dr. Mihir Kanti Mazumder, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest was present as special guest. Md. Habibur Rahman Siraj Chairman, BILS chaired the session. Md. Zafrul Hasan Joint Secretary General, BILS, Erik Nielsen, Regional Consultant, LO- FTF Council (Denmark) and Laura Martín Murillo, Director, Sustainlabour delivered welcome address. Among others, Md. Mojubur Rahman Bhuiyan, Vice Chairman, Rowshon Jahan Shathi MP, Member and Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, Assistant Executive Director of BILS and Julianna Angelova, Representative, Sustainlabour Secretariat were also present.   The minister said, "Trade Union can play strong role to create pressure on developed countries to reduce the emission of CO2. He said, "Besides getting donation it is also important to ensure that for the people who are victims". Giving importance on food security and disaster management, the minister said that the government has been working to address these issues.              It is to be mentioned that there were 14 different sessions in this seminar, where good number of national and international trade union leaders and representatives from government, non-government and international organisations attended. Representatives and experts of different international organisations like UNDP, UNEP, WHO and ILO were present as key discussants at the seminar.

Annual General Meeting of BILS

Date: 11 July, 2009

Venue: BIAM, Eskaton, Dhaka  

Md. Habibur Rahman Siraj, Chairman and

Nazrul Islam Khan, Secretary General

BILS Annual General meeting was held at BIAM Multipurpose Hall in the Capital on 11 July, 2009. A fifteen member Executive Committee headed by Md. Habibur Rahman Siraj as Chairman and Nazrul Islam Khan as Secretary General, was elected for the next 2 years. The newly elected Executive Committee formed an Advisory Council. Chief Election Commissioner, Abul Bashar, moderated the election. Md. Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Acting Chairman of BILS chaired the meeting. Nazrul Islam Khan, Secretary General of BILS submitted the Activity report while Finance Secretary Md. Kabir Hossain submitted the Financial Report of BILS. Some amendments were made in the constitution.