List of Speakers South Asia Regional Conference Gender, Rights and Choices: Access to Justice in a Megacity | 19-20 March 2018

I. The Context of the City: Meeting Justice Needs and Gaps

Dr. Md. Rahmat Ullah is the Dean of the Faculty of Law and a Professor in the Department of Law under the same Faculty. He is the Provost of Kabi Jashim Uddin Hall, . He also holds the position of the Director of the ‘Quality Assurance Cell’ of the University of Dhaka. He is a member of the Judicial Service Commission (BJSC). He is also member to many Governing bodies like the Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur; MH Somorita Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka; Alhaz Mockbul Hossain University College, Dhaka; and an Independent Director, Mercantile Bank Ltd.

Dr. Md. Rahmat Ullah He completed LL.M from Baku State University, Azerbaijan and PhD from Kiev [email protected] State University, Ukraine. During his professional carrier he was a syndicate member to the University of Dhaka and worked as adjunct faculty member to several private universities. He participated in professional workshops, seminars and trainings in India, Nepal, China, Belgium, Netherland, Switzerland and Iran. His fields of interest is human rights and commercial laws.

He is a prolific researcher in the field of human rights and legal issues. He worked as a national and international consultant under different projects on human rights and legal issues with UNHCR, UNDP, European Union, NHRC, HRDC, MJF and He has published more than twenty four research articles on human rights and legal issues and is an author of one book and co-author of four books. He is also Executive Editor of nine research books. He is a committed human rights activist and desires to work for the people for a just and better life.

Sara Hossain is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a partner at the law firm of Dr. Kamal Hossain and Associates. She currently serves pro bono as the Honorary Executive Director of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust. She is a board member of the UN Voluntary Fund on Victims of Torture, a Board Member of Dnet and was a founding board member of the South Asia Women’s Fund. She is also a member of ASK and of MLAA. Her relevant publications include editing Human Rights in Bangladesh for Ain o Salish Kendra; (with Iain Byrne) “Economic and Social Rights Case Law of Sara Hosaain Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan” in Malcolm Byrne (Ed.), Social Rights [email protected] Jurisprudence: Emerging Trends in International and Comparative Law.

Professor Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman is the current Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University. He is a Fulbright Scholar (Boston College, USA). He joined University of Dhaka in 1990 as a lecturer in Department of Islamic History & Culture. Apart from being the Dean and Chairman, respectively of Faculty of Arts and Department of Islamic History & Culture and Department of Arabic at University of Dhaka, he has also been the General Secretary (2004, 2005 & 2006) and Vice President (2009, 2011) of the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association. Md. Akhtaruzzaman has forty-two research articles published in

Professor Dr. Md. different journals. He is a recipient of The Justice Ibrahim Gold Medal for Akhtaruzzaman extraordinary research (2008).

Ferdous Jahan is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka and is Academic Coordinator at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development. Jahan teaches courses on development, management of land, governance, comparative public administration, financial administration, and political science. She is also an expert in program evaluation and policy research. She has designed and conducted a variety of qualitative studies as well as many quantitative surveys and research. Her current research involves governance, social protection, urban poverty, legal empowerment of the poor and women¹s empowerment issues in developing nations. She obtained her Dr. Ferdous Jahan PhD in political science in 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. [email protected]

Faria Ahmad is an Associate at Akhtar Imam & Associates and works regularly with the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). She has worked with BLAST since 2015, mainly on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and the law, in particular issues of consent and choice. She is a member of the SARJAI network which dedicatedly works on SRHR. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2016 and completed her LLB Hons from University Faria Ahmad of London. [email protected] Marlon J. Manuel is a Senior Advisor of the Global Legal Empowerment Network NAMATI. Marlon has more than two decades of experience in legal empowerment work, having devoted practically his entire career to social justice and human rights lawyering. He has combined grassroots education activities with active involvement in strategic litigation on human rights and public interest issues, policy reform work on social justice legislation, and justice system reform programs on improving access to justice.

From 2008-2017, Marlon was the Coordinator of the Alternative Law Groups , a coalition of twenty legal resource NGOs in the Philippines with distinct Marlon J. Manuel programs that are primarily concerned with the pursuit of public interest, [email protected] respect for human rights, and promotion of social justice. Before joining Namati, he served as member of the Global Legal Empowerment Network’s Guidance Committee.

Marlon is a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1994. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management (Major in Legal Management) from the College of Arts and Sciences of the same university.

Dr. Kamal Hossain is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and founder Chairman of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and former President, Supreme Court Bar Association, and former Vice-Chairman of the Bangladesh Bar Council. He has served as Minister of Law, Energy and Foreign Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh. He has chaired several committees of the International Bar Association and the International Law Association.

Dr. Kamal Hossain [email protected] HE Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere is the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh. She has earlier served as an ambassador in Sri Lanka, Yemen and Rwanda.

H.E. Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere [email protected]

II: Gender and Access to Justice in the City

Mohammed Nizamul Huq is a former judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and former presiding judge of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Justice Nizamul Huq [email protected]

Nurunnahar Nawreen is a change maker in Shokhi since at 2015. She completed her paralegal internship in 2017. She is working actively to stop early child marriage, and violence against women and helping others to get legal services easily.

Nurun Nahar Nowrin

Abeda Sultana is the Deputy Director of the National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO), a statutory body established by the Legal Aid Services Act, 2000 to implement the government legal aid program in Bangladesh. Ms Sultana has worked with NLASO to make the government legal aid system accessible and responsive to the poor and to develop an effective legal aid culture throughout the country, through policy reforms, providing an easy process for decision making, enhancing organizational capacity, ensuring speedy and quality services, and increasing access to legal aid for women, Abeda Sultana children, and ethnic and linguistic minorities through group mobilization, legal [email protected] literacy and legal empowerment.

Farida Yasmin Farida Yasmin serves as the Deputy Commissioner in the Victim Support Centre [email protected] of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. With the partnership of 10 NGOs victim support centre, DMP is serving women and child victims by providing legal assistance, counseling support and rehabilitation facilities.

Dr. Bilkis Begum Dr. Bilkis Begum is a Coordinator of One Stop Crisis Center run by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.

Mohammad Ibrahim Mia started his career in development sector to promote and protect human rights for the poor people of the country and do something for their betterment. While managing development projects since 1996, he’s been acquainted with contemporary development practices and has been able to sharpen his expertise for achieving quality outputs and utilize Professional Crisis Management (PCM) techniques effectively to deliver projects according to the plan and budget. He has been working in Project Development & Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Training and skill development for more than 18 years in non-government organization. He has hands on experience in result based report writing, monitoring, planning, management and Mohammad Ibrahim Mia coordination of a number of projects funded by USAID, European Union, Royal [email protected] Norwegian Embassy, Royal Denmark Embassy, DFID Innovation Fund, and some international NGOs and in partnership with GoB and Non State Actors. He has done a number of research works especially on Study on Limitations of AC & VC Laws and Procedures and Procedural complicacy on family laws and dowry as research assistance. At present he is serving in Madaripur Legal Aid Association as Project Coordinator.

Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan is a professor of the Department of Law, University of Dhaka. He is also the Advisor and Adjunct Professor, Department of Law, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB).

Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan

III. Access to Healthcare, Livelihood and Shelter

Dr. Sabina Faiz Rashid is the Dean of the James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University. She has been working since 1993 in national and international organizations including BRAC), Grameen Trust (a sister organization of Grameen Bank) and UNICEF Bangladesh. In addition to the overall leadership and management of the School, Dr. Rashid has been integral to the founding and growth of the international Master of Public Health program.. Dr. Rashid has over 20 years of experience in conducting ethnographic and qualitative research. Her areas of interest are gender, sexual Sabina Faiz Rashid and reproductive health (SRH) and well-being of adolescents, youth, women [email protected] and men. A key area of her research is on emerging issues in urban areas, and changing social norms of adolescents in urban spaces, with a focus on SRH, gender norms, roles, power relations and urban poverty. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Anthropology, and a PhD in Medical Anthropology and Public Health from The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Dr. A.S.M Amanullah is a professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka.

Dr. A.S.M Amanullah [email protected]

Dr. Julia Ahmed has over 25 years of experience in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of comprehensive women’s health programmes with a focus on sexual and reproductive health rights, public health implications of gender-based violence, and health system strengthening from grassroots to national level.

Dr. Julia Ahmed [email protected]

Dr. Ayesha Afroz Chowdhury Dr. Ayesha Afroz Chowdhury is a Doctor of Paediatric Medicine, serving in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of Bangladesh in the Gender, NGO and Stakeholder Participation Unit.

Geeta Menon has a long time experience working in the slums, organizing and mobilizing communities, building up leadership skills since 1979. Geeta Menon cofounded the Stree Jagruti Samiti in 1988 which is working to ensure recognition, dignity and social protection for these underprivileged house helps. The organization is working against forced labour trafficking and they with cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. The organization is fighting

Geeta Menon these social evils in both state and central level. [email protected] Geeta Menon was awarded with Namma Bengaluru Awards Citizen of the Year 2016 from. She receieved Nirbhaya award on 8th March from parents of Nirbhaya who was a victim of gang rape.

Tanay Gandhi is currently a research fellow at the Centre for Social Justice in Ahmedabad, Gujarat where he has been engaged since 2017. He is a graduate in Law (L.L.B) from the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata. His areas of research interest involve self-governance and forest land rights in the context of Adivasi communities, public health and rural public health policy, and - in the above contexts - access to justice. He is currently involved in filing a writ petition before the High Court of Gujarat for the provision of a Primary Health Tanay Gandhi Centre in the Adivasi blocks of Northern Gujarat. [email protected]

IV. Rights to Consent and Choice

Dr. Muzaherul Huq is the National Committee Member of Organization for Implementation of Human Rights in Bangladesh and current Vice Chairman of Indo Pacific Association of Law, Medicine and Sciences (INPALMS). He is a medical graduate of Dhaka University (1972) with MBBS degree, with the specialization in Forensic Pathology from London Hospital Medical College and Masters in Medical Education from Dundee University, UK. He has taught ethics to medical students from 1973 as lecturer in Forensic Medicine. He also directed two national organizations: the Centre for Medical Education and the Dr. Muzaherul Huq Institute of Public Health in Dhaka. He currently teaches ethics as visiting [email protected] professor in Public Health and Informatics Department of Jahangir Nagar University. He is the current Chairman of Public Health Foundation of Bangladesh and Founder President of South East Asia Association of Health Ethics (SEAAHE), the organizations involved in teaching and promoting health ethics. He served with WHO in South-East Asia as HRH specialist and Regional Adviser for Health Human Resources.

Ms. Humaira Aziz has joined CARE Bangladesh in October 2012 as Director Women and Girl's Empowerment Program, CARE Bangladesh. Prior to CARE Bd, she was Assistant Country Director, Learning and Sharing at Concern Worldwide. She has also worked extensively with UNDP Bangladesh Save the Children and Action Aid. Humaira has 15 years of experience in the development, with expertise in Project Planning and Management; Community Empowerment & Advocacy Monitoring & Evaluation Capacity Building & Partnership and Communications & Fundraising. She has led and provided Humaira Aziz technical assistance to several projects, working on maternal and child [email protected] mortality reproductive sexual health; domestic violence; violence committed against sex workers and sexual abuse; child labour; exploitation & trafficking and Non-Discrimination. She has developed tools for awareness raising and case management systems, but her most brilliant project was the CARE's innovative study entitled cost of violence against women initiative in Bangladesh. Humaira holds Masters of Social Science in International Relations from Dhaka University, Bangladesh with a Masters of Arts in Governance & Development from Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex, UK.

Dr Gitiara Nasreen is a professor of Mass Communication and Journalism Department of University of Dhaka. After graduating from the same department, she completed her PhD in University of Hawaii, and then joined here.

Dr. Gitiara Nasreen [email protected]

V: Technology, Innovation, Health and Legal Services

Mr. Fida Haq, founding Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of shurjoMukhi Limited, is a trained Electrical and Electronics Engineer with a long experience in the fields of information and communications technology and renewable energy.

Mujtaba Fidaul Haq [email protected]

Dr. Ananya Raihan is the CEO of iSocial and Executive Chairperson of Dnet. He has been a Senior Research Fellow of CPD and Associate Professor of BIBM. Dr. Raihan holds both a Masters and Ph.D. in Economics. Dr. Raihan developed the “Pallitathya Model” to improve access to knowledge and information among poor and marginalized communities. He also advanced the concept of "Benefit on Investment" (BOI) to understand and capture the sustainability dimension of public access to technology. He was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2004 in recognition of his contribution as a social innovator in this field. He works for Ananya Raihan promoting the concept of social entrepreneurship to link bottom-of-the- [email protected] pyramid market with the national and global market. His revolutionary concept “Infolady” opened a new dimension to employment opportunities to thousands of women in rural Bangladesh with the power of ICTs. He has consulted and conducted research projects for a range of national, regional, and global organizations, including Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, ICTSD, WTO-ITC, UNCTAD, IDRC, UNICEF, OXFAM, UNESCO and many other institutions at home and abroad. He is a member of Editorial Board of the Journal of Community Informatics.

Jayahree Satpute is a human rights lawyer who has extensive experience in advocating for the protection and rights of slum dwellers, refugees, women workers, and poor women and children in the Supreme Court and High Courts of India. Her landmark legal victories include Laxmi Mandal v. Deen Dayal Harinagar Hospital & ORS (2008), in which the Delhi High Court recognized maternal mortality as a human rights violation for the first time, and The Court on its Own Motion v. Union of India (2010), which resulted in the construction of shelter homes exclusively for homeless pregnant and lactating women. Ms. Jayshree Satpute Satpute, who was recognised as one of the “World’s Top 100 Inspiring Women” [email protected] by The Guardian (UK) in 2011, is one of the co-founders of Nazdeek, an NGO working to bring access to justice to marginalised communities in India, and providing legal support and legal empowerment trainings to women working in the tea gardens of Assam and living in slums in Delhi to improve their living conditions. She has formerly served as the Director of Litigation at the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), India’s largest public interest organisation, has been appointed as amicus in several public interest cases, and has co-authored a number of texts, including "The Right to Safe Motherhood Through Litigation: The Indian Story,' in the book Social and Economic Rights in Theory and Practice: A Critical Assessment (Routledge Press UK 2014), and co-edited the book Refugee and Law:2nd Edition (HRLN 2011).

Dr. Shayla Ahmed is working as a Medical Team Lead Of Maya Apa. She has joined Maya in 2016 as a senior medical expert. She has extensively worked on dispersing information related to SRHR issues. She has passed her MBBS from Armed Forces Medical College. After that completed her MPH from AIUB.

Dr. Shayla Ahmed [email protected]

Dr. Mohammad Tabarak Ullah is a superintendent of police serving as in-charge of National Emergency Service 999 operated by the Bangladesh Police under the public security division of ministry of Home affairs. He is a medical graduate and obtained his graduation from Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College.

Md. Tabarak Ullah [email protected]

Tasnuva Ahmed is head of operations and associated with the marketing team of the Colours FM 101.6. She has d an MBA degree from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand and an International Masters in Marketing (double major) at Escuela de Alta Dirección y Administración (EADA) in Barcelona, Spain.

Tasnuva Ahmed [email protected]

Saila Yasmin Saila Yasmin is a Research Officer at the National Helpline Number -109 run by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh.

Vashkar Bhattacharya is the National Consultant on Web Accessibility at the Access to Information (A2I) Project under the Prime Minister’s Office in Bangladesh. He is working on issues of disability and development, ICT for development, e-Accessibility and information accessibility for people with disabilities. He graduated in history from Chittagong University.

Vashkar Bhattacharya [email protected]

Shams Jaber is the founder of The Tech Academy, a social enterprise which provides electronics and programming education to children from different economic backgrounds to develop critical, analytical and problem solving skills among in Dhaka and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Recently, his organization formed a partnership with AvishkaarBox of New Delhi, India to provide

Shams Jaber Avishkaar Box’s Robotics education to school children in Dhaka. He is also a [email protected] Global Shaper at the Dhaka Hub, a project under the World Economic Forum.

VI: Addressing Discrimination in Laws Policies and Procedures

Nurun Nahar Osmani is a Member of the National Human Rights Commission, and Chair of its Committee on Women’s Rights. She is a former District Judge.

Nurun Nahar Osmani [email protected]

Taslima Yasmin is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Law of the University of Dhaka and is currently pursuing her PhD from Brunel University, UK. She is also a visiting research consultant at BLAST.

Taslima Yasmin [email protected]

Fatama Sultana Suvra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Jagannath University. She completed her post-graduation degree in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University. She also taught Sociology and Film Studies in private universities. She contributed as a researcher in preparing the Action Plan on National Women Development Fatama Sultana Shuvra Policy (2011). Her areas of research interest are: feminism, women’s experience, violence against women, sexuality, the body, law and culture. She has worked with development organizations as a freelance researcher. In association with BLAST, she started discussing about the issue of medico-legal system of rape (TFT) and Evidence Act nationally. She authored and published

her research articles in several academic journals and edited collections. Suvra writes in national dailies and online. Her publications include `v‡Mi msKU: mZx bvixi †K”Qv [Crisis of Stress Marks: Tales of the Chaste Women] (cÖKvwkZ bvix I cÖMwZ, lvb¥vwmK msL¨v 9, el© 5, Rvbyqvix- Ryb 2009)| kvnevM Kx ev‡ivqvwi n‡Z †c‡i‡Q?! (mgvR wbixÿY, msL¨v 127, A‡±vei- wW‡m¤^i 2013, mwb‡K cÖKvkbv)| সতীরই কেবল ধর্ষণ হয়, ২০১৫

Contested Dissent: Social Challenges in the Use & Collection of Medical Evidence in Rape Trial, 2013, Ideas and Practices in Development: Anthropological Perspective, edited by Muhammad Miznuddin, Md. Kamal Pasa, Department of Anthropology, Rajshahi University. “Over-Validation” is a form of Invalidation: Being an “Imputed” Campus girl, Cases of Sexual Harassment in Jahangirnagar University (forthcoming).

Dr. Muhammad Ekramul Haque is a Professor in the Department of Law at the University of Dhaka. He did his PhD in Constitutional Law and International Law at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He completed his LLM and LLB (Hons) degrees from the Department of Law, University of Dhaka with First Class and obtained Gold Medal. He has an extensive experience of teaching different law courses including Constitutional Law, International human Rights Law, Muslim Law, Gender and Law. He has published research articles on different issues of constitutional law, human rights and family law in reputed peer-reviewed law journals. He is the author of three books: Law of Contract (first published in 2004), Islamic Law of Inheritance: Rules and Calculations (2009) and Muslim Family Law (first published in 2015). He is also working as a coordinator of the Clinical legal Education Programme of the Department of Muhammad Ekramul Haque Law of the University of Dhaka. [email protected] He has received awards and scholarships, including the Monash Law Deans Award (Australia); Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (Australia); Monash Graduate Scholarship (Australia); Scholarship by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland. He is involved with different national and international organizations including the Castan Centre for Human Rights, Australia.

Farhtheeba Rahat Khan is the Team Leader for the ‘Working with Women’ project implemented by SNV where she is facilitating interventions in garment factories, following a gender sensitive and gender-specific approach to ensure equity in healthcare service provision for female garment workers. As the lead of ‘Private Sector Health project’, Ms.Khan undertook studies to understand private sector healthcare market dynamics and simultaneously worked on the Farhtheeba Rahat Khan policy front with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and its directorates in [email protected] addressing the supply side issues of healthcare market.

Shafiqul Islam is the Executive Director of ADD International Bangladesh. He has been engaged in development work from mid 80s with BRAC has since worked with RDRS/LWF, ADAB, South Asia Partnership, Save the Children, Prip Trust, Action Aid, UNDP. He also worked for Dhaka Ahsania Mission.

Shafiqul Islam shafiqul.islam@add- bangladesh.org

VII: Building Networks and Alliances for Greater Impact

Maheen Sultan is one of the founders of the Centre for Gender and Social Transformation at the BRAC Development Institute, BRAC University, a regional centre on research, teaching and policy related to gender and social transformation. She is a development practitioner with over 25 years experience working for NGOs, donors, the UN, Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Government in a range of capacities, from direct programme management to policy formulation. She has worked on issues of social development, poverty, civil society and community participation and gender equality. Maheen is a member of Naripokkho, a Bangladeshi women’s activist Maheen Sultan organisation. She is the co-editor of ‘Voicing Demands: Feminist Activism in [email protected] Transitional Contexts’ (Zed Books: London, 2014).

Akhi Akter is a change maker and an Executive Member of the SHOKHI Platform. She has been involved in community service with the Bostibashi Odhikar Surokkha Committee (BOC). Akter played significant role to stop child marriage, domestic violence and violence against women at her working area. Akter has been awarded by Dustho Shyastho Kendro (DSK) for her contribution

Akhi Akter to elimination of malnutrition.

Shaheen Akter Dolly is Executive Director of Nari Moitree, a women’s rights organisation working in the communities to empower women and girls and a member of the We Can Alliance to End Violence against Women.

Shaheen Akter Dolly

Zakir Hossain is the Chief Executive of Nagorik Uddyog (Citizen’s Initiative). He is a human rights and environmental activist, focusing on human rights protection of marginalized, socially excluded people, including Dalits, and access to justice for rural women in disadvantaged communities. He has played a key role in organizing members of the Dalit community in Bangladesh and is an advisor of a national platform the ‘Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement (BDERM. He is an active member of the Bangladesh Environment Movement (BAPA) and Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN). Since 2003, Nagorik Uddyog has coordinated the campaign titled ‘Campaign on Citizens’ Rights to Information (CCRTI)’. Mr. Hossain has authored / co-authored Zakir Hossain research papers on access to justice, Dalit rights/ social exclusion, local [email protected] governance, right to information and informal sector workers.

Dr. SriKrishna Deva Rao is acting Vice-Chancellor Rao, National Law University Odisha, India.

Prof. Rao has actively involved with legal education and research in India at four National Law Schools: National Law School of India University, Bangalore (1990-1995 & 1997-98), NALSAR, Hyderabad (1998-2004), Gujarat National

Dr. Sri Krishna Deva Rao Law University, Gandhi Nagar (2004-2007) and National Law University, Delhi [email protected] (2010-14) including short stint with Jawaharlal Nehru University (1995-96) and University of Delhi (1996-97).

He was a member of the UGC expert committee in Law to transform legal education in India (2010-2012). He was a visiting fellow at School of Oriental & African Studies, SOAS, London (2013) and University of Washington at Seattle (2012), He has engaged with several research projects with UKERI, UNDP, Law Commission of India and Ministry of Law and Justice etc. He was a consultant to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Swedish Development Cooperation (SDC), Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Child Rights and You (CRY) and Swedish National Science Foundation (SNSF). His research interests include Criminal law, Human Rights, legal education and Access to Justice.

Prof. Rao holds a Master’s degree in Law from Kakatiya University, Warangal, Master of Philosophy in Law from National Law School, Bangalore and Ph.D. from Delhi University. He

Closing Session: Access to Justice, Empowerment and Equality

Professor Shahnaz Huda has been teaching at the Law Department of the University of Dhaka since 1989. She writes and publishes regularly in academic journals on the subjects of marriage and divorce laws and aspects of personal laws, children’s rights and gender.

Shahnaz Huda completed a post-doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK as a Senior Research Fellow on Family Law in South Asia. She is an active Board member of the Manusher Jonno Shahnaz Huda Foundation, a national initiative set up to promote good governance and human [email protected] rights in the country and a member of the Academic Council of Central Women’s University, Bangladesh. Dr Huda graduated from the Law Department of Dhaka University with a First Class in 1984 with a Masters Degree, with a First, from the same institution. She obtained her doctorate from the University of East London, UK in 1996.

Professor Dr. Nasreen Ahmad is actively involved with primary research with focus being mostly on people and environment. She was awarded Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, for her thesis on “Determinants of Landlessness in Rural Bangladesh.” Prof. Ahmad’s interests lie in Population Geography, Climatology and Agroclimatology. Prof. Ahmad has more than thirty five publications in reputed Professor Dr. Nasreen Ahmad journals, has authored two books, and edited books, journals and proceedings published by the Bangladesh Geographical Society. She attended seminars, conferences and workshops internationally and availed a management training program from the United Kingdom. Apart from her involvement in different capacities in various academic and administrative committees of the University, Prof. Ahmad is affiliated with a number of government, non-government organizations / institutions.

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain is the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Bangladesh.. He was enrolled as advocate of the District Court and the High Court Division of Supreme Court in 1981 and 1983, respectively. Hossain also acted as deputy attorney general from December 1999 until he was elevated to the bench.He was elevated as additional judge of the High Court Division in February 2001 and as judge of the division in February 2003. In February 2011, he was Hon. Chief Justice Syed Mahmud elevated to the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division. He visited the courts of Hossain Canada and the United States in 2012 under the Judicial Strengthening (JUST) Project supported by the United Nations Development Programme to share his experience and exchange views with judges of those countries for improving justice delivery system.

Justice Hossain has also participated in various international seminars and symposiums in Malaysia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, India, South Korea and Hong Kong. Justice Hossain obtained his BSc and LLB degrees and completed the six-month long “Commonwealth Young Lawyers” course at the School of Oriental African Studies and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of London University

Dr. Naima Huq is the Chairman & Professor of the Law Department at Dhaka University. She has also been the Dean of the Faculty from 2003 to 2006. She completed her PhD from University of East London, UK on ‘Rural Women’s Divorce Right in Bangladesh’. She has authored a book titled ‘Post Divorce Maintenance: Legal and Social Appraisal’. Her research works have mostly focused upon seeing women rights through personal laws’ specs and upon alternative dispute resolution, among others. Dr. Naima Huq