Legal Empowerment Approach throughCommunity Paralegal Project

Khalid Hussain

Urdu-speaking Biharis, a linguistic minority, are living in one
hundred sixteen inhuman camps in Bangladesh. Numbering approximately 300,000, they are identified in the local community bydifferent names, such as non-Bengalis, Biharis and Urdu-speaking. Prior to2008, they were stateless.
The history of the Urdu-speaking Bangladeshi community goes backto the partition of the Indian sub-continent. In 1947, the sub-continent experienced two historical events: the creation of India and Pakistan and themass 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 what were known as 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 “Mohajir” meaning
refugee, and later they became known as Biharis and Stranded Pakistanis in
Bangladesh.
In December 1971, Bengalis in East Pakistan won independence afterfighting the nine-month war of liberation against the Pakistan Army. During
the war, a section of the Urdu-speaking Bihari community opposed the creation of Bangladesh. Because of this, the Biharis became victims of political violence after the emergence of Bangladesh in 16 December 1971. About
100,000 Biharis were killed by Bengali freedom fighters. They lost theirproperties, jobs, and became homeless and stateless.
During that time the Geneva-based International Committee of the
Red Cross (icrc) took the responsibility of providing the Urdu-speaking
community with food and health care and built refugee-like camps in urban
centers in different districts in Bangladesh. Geneva Camp in Dhaka is one of
the first camps established.
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Bihari camp dwellers are Bangladeshi citizens. However, they are nottreated as a linguistic minority in Bangladesh. They remained camp dwellers
for forty-six years after the independence of Bangladesh. They have stayedin subhuman conditions in the camps for over four decades.
In 2008, the High Court of Bangladesh confirmed the Bangladeshi citizenship of the Urdu-speaking camp dwellers. This landmark verdict raised ahope among the young Urdu-speakers on ending the decades-long struggle
with statelessness. The landmark decision was the result of a writ petition
filed by eleven camp residents on behalf of the whole community.1 After this2008 verdict, the Election Commission ordered to enroll camp dwellers in
the national voter lists and issued national identity cards.
IssuesDue to lack of mass awareness of the landmark High Court verdict among
the people in general and government officials, the camp dwellers failed to
get the services and treatment they deserve as citizens depriving them not
only of their civil and political rights but also their socioeconomic and cultural rights.
The Urdu-speaking camp dwellers are yet to enjoy their citizenshiprights and have been facing difficulties to get their national identity cardand passport, enroll in voter list, and access to basic services provided bygovernment and non-governmental service providers.
Council of Minorities
The Council of Minorities (CoM) is a human rights organization with a special focus on the enforcement of the rights of minorities and indigenous
peoples in Bangladesh. There are forty-five indigenous communities andreligious, ethnic and linguistic minority communities in Bangladesh. With
the majority of the Bangladeshis being Muslims, the indigenous, religious,
ethnic and linguistic minority communities appear as pressure groups dueto the difference in religion, language and culture.
Without proper government policy, it is not possible to ensure any positive changes in the overall enjoyment of minority/indigenous peoples rights
in Bangladesh.

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Through partnership, networking, advocacy and lobbying with the government, CoM has been trying to bring changes in the society to ensure thatthe minorities and indigenous peoples would enjoy their social, cultural,political, constitutional and economic rights. It promotes and fosters massawareness on minority rights and duties, creates social awareness againstsocial stigma, discrimination and xenophobia through the performing arts
(including drama and documentary films) and enhances the capacity of minorities and indigenous peoples to organize their members through training, seminars, workshops, summits and minority fellowship program.
National Annual Minority Youth Leadership Summit
Since 2011, CoM has been organizing the National Urdu-speaking
Youth Leadership Summit by inviting sixty Urdu-speaking youth from all
the camps in Bangladesh. They attend three days of residential training on
minority rights, leadership, community activism, personal skill development, and rights to housing, health and education. In March 2016, CoM
hosted for the first time the three-day National Minority Youth Leadership
Summit with the participation of seventy youth from different minority andindigenous groups.
Projects of CoM
CoM runs a live radio show and conducts research and advocacy projects.
Shomprity (Harmony) Live Radio Show
CoM has a live radio show on social awareness and civil documentation
issue. The CoM radio show called Shomprity is aired on Ekattor 98.4 FM
every first and third Sundays of the month. In every episode, CoM invites
renowned speakers to talk about issues and their solutions. Broadcast media
is a very strong instrument in promoting mass awareness on social issues
and civil documentations.
Research
CoM is currently implementing a research project on minority profile
mapping in twenty districts within the five divisions in Bangladesh. This
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this research project, CoM maps the different types of minorities in thetwenty districts and the issues related to access to justice.
Advocacy
CoM has an advocacy unit focusing on the different issues related to access to justice, citizenship and civil documentation. CoM has organized different strategic advocacy activities on the draft Bangladesh Citizenship Billcurrently being considered at the Bangladesh Parliament. If passed by the
Parliament, the Bangladesh Citizenship Bill will replace the 1951 CitizenshipAct. The provisions in the Bill will create new situations of statelessness andperpetuate statelessness for some populations. CoM has organized a workshop, a roundtable, a press conference and a live radio show as advocacy
strategies on the draft citizenship bill.
Empowering Linguistic Minority to Realize Citizenship Rights
Considering the deprivation and sufferings of the Biharis caused by lackof full access to citizenship rights, CoM has been running since June 2013a paralegal project entitled “Empowering Linguistic Minority to Realize
Citizenship Rights in Bangladesh” in partnership with Namati.2 The project
has the following objectives:• To build an effective model in using legal empowerment approaches, specifically community-based paralegals, to facilitate the acquisition and use of identity documents to gain access to rights andopportunities as part of the core content of citizenship;• To gather robust evidence on the relationship between identity
documentation and statelessness, including the current discriminatory government practice that may contribute to an ongoing lackof effective exercise of citizenship, despite the possession of identity documents; and• To encourage the use of this evidence in litigation and national orinternational advocacy efforts regarding access to effective citizenship rights by the Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis, if necessary.
What is the Work of the Paralegals?
Paralegals do every day door-to-door visit and organize community groupmeeting and community forum. At paralegal centers, paralegals provide in-Legal Empowerment Approach through Community Paralegal Project

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formation about the law, prepare application documents in the paralegal
center, accompany the clients to the government office to apply and follow
up on delays in processing, or denials, of the application.
Every day, paralegals are doing outreach activities inside the Camp.
During the outreach activities, they disseminate the message of the 2008
High Court of Bangladesh judgment, and the importance and uses of thecivil documentation like birth certificate, national identity card, passport,
trade license and other services. Every day, the paralegals visit at least fivehouses in their rotational weekly plan. The paralegals interacted so far with
8,620 Camp dwellers through their daily outreach activities.
CoM has been providing paralegal support through six community-based paralegal centers in Dhaka (Mirpur and Mohammadpur),Mymensingh, Khulna, Chittagong and Syedpur. Camp dwellers and others who have questions on or need for legal support come to the paralegal centers. Fifteen youth are assigned as community-based paralegals toprovide knowledge on law and government information to the community
people and give skills training on negotiation, community education, organizing and advocacy to enable them to seek concrete solutions to instancesof injustice. In addition, serving as dynamic “frontline” of justice service
providers, paralegals focus on empowerment. They are not only working
to resolve legal issues but also to build the people’s capacity to deal withproblems related with access to justice in the future.
Legal Education
Paralegals organize community group meetings and community legal forums every month. They invite ten to fifteen women, men, boys and girls
to attend the community group meeting where they learn about the 2008
High Court judgment and how it ended the statelessness of the Biharis. They
discuss also the importance and uses of the civil documentations in their
daily life.
Legal Empowerment for Women and Youth groups
The CoM established a pro bono legal empowerment women’s group in 2014
in the six centers. Forty women attend a monthly session to enhance theirlegal knowledge that they disseminate to their neighbors. They also help

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the paralegals do outreach work, organizing community group meeting andcommunity legal forum. In the same way, CoM has pro bono youth group in
the six centers. They are helping the paralegals organize meeting and forum
and also assisting the camp dwellers to obtain civil documentations like thepaid paralegals. The establishment of these two pro bono groups is one wayof making the paralegal project sustainable. When support from donors of
the paralegal project ends, these pro bono women and youth will help thecamp dwellers in the documentation needs.

Legal empowerment group meeting.

Paralegal Training and Refresher
At the beginning of the project in July 2013, CoM organized three basic paralegal training activities in Dhaka with ten youth as newly-appointed paralegals. The basic paralegal training program was designed by the Bangladesh
Legal Aid Services Trust (blast). The basic paralegal training activity covers learning about the paralegal and her/his role and responsibilities, codeof conduct of the paralegal, civil documentation rights covering birth certificate, Councilor Certificate, national identity card, passport and trade license. After the basic training, CoM organizes a two-day refresher paralegal
training. Every year, all paralegals come together in Dhaka and share theirexperiences, success stories and challenges.

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Paralegal training.

Presentation by paralegals during training.

Achievements in Civil Documentations
CoM has helped numerous camp dwellers over the years in obtaining birthcertificate, Councilor Certificate, passport and Old Age Allowance. It also
held a number of activities.
The birth certificate is one of the most requested documents in the
Bihari camps. Without a birth certificate no one can be enrolled in school.

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Councilor Certificate is needed to apply for passport, jobs, open bankaccount and obtain national identity card.
Urdu-speaking Camp dwellers, despite being Bangladeshi citizens,face discrimination in getting passports. Government authorities in different places have different practices in accepting and rejecting t h e passportapplications of the Camp dwellers.
Poor men and women living in the camps receive Old Age Allowance,
which helps them to survive.
From June 2013 to December 2018 paralegals in six centers have helped
camp dwellers obtain different types of civil documentation, as shown in thetables below.
Trade
LicenseGeneral Dairy

Bank Account

Death Certificate

Old age allowance

Disabled person
Allowance

3

-

4

-

15

1

4

1

1

1,864

589

5

24

-

15

5

11

53

5

-

-

1,047

Mdpur

2,982 53

11

28

21

3

3

1

24

9

-

177 34

3,346

Mirpur

2,032 47

104 66

50

7

3

-

136 18

1

1

-

2,465

Mym

499

70

3

1

6

8

23

2

2

-

-

900

Syedpur

1,508 37

5

7

-

1

-

57

19

1

-

-

1,635

Total

9,255 806 238 198 108 11

32

14

266 102 13

179 35

11,257

293 47244 42-

New

Renewal24

KhulnaCenterRenewalChittagong 1,645 132 34

Birth Certificate

Total

New

Passport

RenewalNID Card

New

Councilor Certificate

Table 1. Summary of Activities (June - November 2018)

Table 2. Community Group Meetings (June 2013 - December 2018)
CenterNo. ofMeetings

Male

Female

Boy

Girl

Total

Chittagong

233

283

1,438

534

792

3,280

Khulna

148

422

778

300

370

2,018

Mdpur

230

287

1,492

394

858

3,261

Mirpur

231

322

1,523

378

919

3,373

Mymensingh

83

267

492

162

220

1,224

Syedpur

169

323

1,234

266

525

2,517

Total

1,094

1,904

6,957

2,034

3,684

15,673

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Bihari resident receiving a birth certificate.
Table 3. Community Legal Forums (June 2017 to December 2018)

CenterNo. ofmeetings

Female

Male

Boy

Girl

Total

Chittagong

19

52

465

118

186

840

Khulna

19

49

515

95

161

839

Mdpur

19

50

490

79

196

834

Mirpur

19

43

486

84

202

834

Mymensing

19

48

446

97

229

839

Syedpur

19

47

520

75

189

850

Total

114

289

2,922

548

1,163

5,036

Case Studies
Access to Passport
Masum Hussain is a 32-year old resident of Camp number 7, Khalishpur
Khulna. He is a tailor master by profession. He was very eager to start a

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9(Left) An elderly Bihari with her old age allowance document. (Right) A Bihari campdweller receiving his trade license from a paralegal.

business by importing fabric from India to improve his economic status. In
August 2018, he went to apply for a passport. However, the passport authority rejected his application due to his Camp address and said that Bihari
camp dwellers cannot get a passport. After some days, he met brokers infront of the passport office who offered to get him a passport but for double
the cost. The amount asked was a big amount for him. He discussed thematter with his wife, who suggested that he visit the paralegal center to meetthe paralegal.
His wife attended a community group meeting and learned about the2008 High Court judgment and the Home Ministry order regarding theissuance of passport for the Bihari camp dwellers. When Masum heard
about the order from the Home Ministry, he got the confidence to re-apply
with the support of the paralegal.
According to his wife, with information about the paralegal support andhome ministry order he visited the paralegal center and met Naz, a community paralegal in Khalishpur, Khulna, and briefly described his passport
rejection issue. Paralegal Naz updated him about the 2008 High Court judgment and citizenship laws, paralegal activities and process of passport application. Two days after the paralegal completed all his paper work, Nazwent to the passport office carrying a copy of the 2008 High Judgment andorder from the Home Ministry. After the successful submission of passportapplication Masum got his passport within two months. Now he has learned
the process of obtaining a passport and got the Indian visa to start his fabricbusiness.

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A bigger business for Nadim
Nadim Hossain stopped studying to support his family after his father
suddenly became ill, while his elder brother is physically challenged. Nadim
lives with his parents and three siblings in Camp No. 1 in Khalishpur areaof Khulna district. He took a job at a medical store but struggled to provide
for his family with the little salary he received. He tried to convince his employer to increase his salary but the employer did not agree. However, theowner advised him to open a medical store inside the camp if he wanted
to earn more money. He took this advice and soon opened a small medical
store inside the camp. He started doing good and the store became quite
popular among the camp residents. He then wanted to expand his business
which required a larger capital. He tried to get a loan from banks and nongovernmental organizations (ngos) but his application for loan was rejected
because he did not have a trade license.
Nadim went to the city corporation and applied for a trade license. But
his application was rejected because he was a member of the Urdu-speaking
community living in the camp. Unable to get the trade license, Nadim visited the local paralegal center run by CoM to get help from the paralegals. He
again submitted an application for trade license at the city corporation accompanied by a paralegal. When the application was again not accepted, theparalegal informed the officials of the city corporation about the citizenshipstatus of the camp dwelling Urdu-speaking community. The paralegal presented a strong argument saying that since the camp dwellers carry national
identity cards they have the right to get a trade license. His argument convinced the authorities and Nadim’s application was successfully processed.
Within a few days a received his trade license.
After obtaining a trade license, Nadim easily got a loan of 150,000 takas(1,800 US dollars) from a bank that he used to expand his store. Now his
income has increased from just 6,000 takas (70 US dollars) per month to
15,000 takas (178 US dollars) per month. Not only is he now able to decently
provide for his family, he is also able to save some money every month withan aim to further expand his business in the future.
Shabnam gets her job backShabnam Parvin is a resident of Wireless Line No. 9 in Chittagong. Her
husband Mohammad Shamsad is unemployed. Shabnam used to work at aready-made garment factory. She took leave from her work for three months

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when she became pregnant. After her daughter was born she went back towork at the garment factory. But the officials in charge in the factory told
her that in order to get her job back she will have to show them the birthcertificate of her child. Like many other members of the Urdu-speaking
community living in camps Shabnam was unaware of the importance of abirth certificate and also did not have any idea about how to obtain one. Her
husband tried to get a birth certificate from the local ward councilor’s office
but failed. Getting back her job thus became very uncertain.
At this time, a CoM paralegal met Shabnam while doing outreach activities in the camp. Shabnam invited the paralegal to her house and told
her about the difficulty she was facing in obtaining a birth certificate. After
listening to her the paralegal helped Shabnam to fill up the birth certificate application form and took her to the city corporation office. With help
from the paralegal Shabnam submitted her application for her daughter’sbirth certification and paid the fees at the office. Within a few days she received the birth certificate from the city corporation office. The paralegal
also helped her to obtain a Commissioner’s certificate from the local ward
councilor.
Shabnam submitted copies of both the birth certificate and theCommissioner’s certificate at the garment factory. She then got her job
back. The factory authorities also paid her back some arrears which she wasentitled to. Shabnam is now working at the factory very sincerely and also
providing for her family.
Mostafa’s passport
Mostafa works as a barber. He is also a singer. He lives with his parents
in Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur area of Dhaka city. For a long time hehas been yearning to visit Ajmer Sharif (a Sufi shrine) in India and pay his
respect at the shrine. Mostafa did not have a passport and he heard about
the difficulties other members of the Urdu-speaking community living in
the camps faced while trying to get a passport.
Mostafa came to know from his neighbors about the paralegals of CoM
in his area. He then went to the paralegal center and asked support from aparalegal to apply for a passport. A paralegal helped him fill up the passportapplication form and submit the application at the regional passport officeon 30 May 2016. A week later an officer from the Special Branch of Police

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123(SB) came to verify the information Mostafa provided on the passport application. He asked for copies of utility bills but Mostafa informed him thatcamp residents did not get any utility bills. On this ground the passport office refused his application. With help from the paralegal, Mostafa submitted an application for passport twice (on 5 September 2016 and on 1 January2017) and both applications were denied. They found out that the SB officer
had written in his verification report that Mostafa was a stranded Pakistani,a cause for declining the application.
The paralegal took Mostafa to meet a higher official at the SB office. She
explained to the official about the citizenship status of the camp dwelling
Urdu-speaking community and assured him that Mostafa was a Bangladeshi
citizen with a valid national identity card. The official asked them to present a copy of Mostafa’s national identity card verified by the election commission office along with his application. Accordingly, Mostafa applied for
passport for the fourth time on 2 July 2017 and submitted all required documents including a verified copy of his national identity card. This time his
passport application was approved.
Mostafa finally received his passport on 30 July 2017 after more than ayear of repeated applications. Mostafa planned to visit India with his father
and pay respect at the Ajmer Sharif.
Mim gets a job
Mim Akhter lives with her parents, her brother and sister in a rented house in Mirpur area of Dhaka city. Her father is unemployed and herbrother works as a driver. With the small income her brother makes, Mim’s
family barely managed to get by every month. Mim wanted to pursue herstudies but could not continue as her family was unable to afford it. She thenstarted to look for a suitable job. After searching for a job for some time she
finally came across a job opportunity. But to apply for the job she was asked
to submit a copy of her birth certificate along with her resume. Mim had no
idea how or from where to get a birth certificate. She was at a loss and did
not know what to do.
Mim talked to her neighbors and some people in her area to get suggestions about how to obtain a birth certificate. They advised her to talk toa paralegal from the CoM who worked in their neighborhood. They told herthat the CoM paralegals help people to get birth certificate, passport, and124

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9national identity card. Mim then went to meet the paralegal and informed
her of her need for a birth certificate. The paralegal helped Mim fill up an application form and accompanied her to the city corporation office to submit
her application form. The next day her birth certificate was ready and again
the paralegal assisted Mim to receive it from the city corporation office.
As soon as she received her birth certificate Mim applied for the job
and got it. She is very happy that she is now able to support her family. The
money she earns from the job helps ease her family’s financial constraints
and allows them to have a better life.
Nazma registers her landNazma bought a piece of land but she could not get it registered onher name. Whenever she tried to get the land registered she was told by theauthorities that she had to present a copy of her birth certificate. Nazma is
a resident of Thirteen Heart Camp in Mirpur section 10 area of Dhaka city.
She lives there with her husband and three sons. Like many members of
the Urdu-speaking community living in camps Nazma did not have a birthcertificate. She did not even know how or from where to obtain a birth certificate. As a result she was facing different problems such as not being able
to register the land she had purchased.
One day Nazma saw a paralegal from CoM doing household visits inher community. She invited the paralegal to her house and asked her about
her work. The paralegal told Nazma about the work CoM does including
providing support in obtaining birth certificates, national identity cards,
passports, etc. On hearing this, Nazma told the paralegal about the problem
she was having with land registration due to lack of a birth certificate. The
paralegal assured her that she would help Nazma obtain a birth certificate.
Accordingly, the paralegal assisted Nazma file her application for a birthcertificate at the city corporation office. The paralegal had to follow up threetimes with the city corporation officials to ensure that a birth certificate
was issued for Nazma. Finally, after a few days Nazma’s birth certificate wasready. The paralegal collected it and handed it over to Nazma.
After getting the birth certificate, Nazma was able to register the landin her name. This ensured her legal ownership of the land. And with a birthcertificate, Nazma is able to get service from any government or privateorganization.

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Challenges
All the Bihari-Urdu-speaking camp dwellers are citizens of Bangladesh andhave national identity cards. However, Biharis are citizens without full access to related rights and benefits. At the beginning of the CoM paralegal
project, the paralegals helped the camp dwellers to apply for birth certificates, national identity cards, passports, and trade licenses. However, passport applications were rejected by the investigation officers due to the camp
address, which is often how members of the Urdu-speaking community are
identified. Verification officials also informed the paralegals that they havean internal written letter from the Home Ministry that Rohingya and Biharis
are not able to get passports.
On 11 August 2014, CoM filed a Right to Information petition to theHome Ministry to ask what policies exist regarding issuing passports
to the Bihari camp dwellers. After follow-up and the involvement of theInformation Commission, CoM received a copy of a 2009 order from theHome Ministry that stated Bihari camp dwellers who have national identity
cards can get passports. After receiving this order, paralegals again assisted
community members in re-submitting the rejected passport applications.
Investigation officials visited applicants inside the camp and said “you do
not have any permanent address, gas, water and electricity bill so I am notgoing to write a positive report for you” then the paralegals showed him
the Home Ministry order. As a result two clients residing in Market Camp
(Dhaka) received their passports.
However, around the same time a client from Geneva camp re-applied
for a passport for the second time and showed the Home Ministry orderbut the investigation officer said “I am not going to issue passport to you
because you are living inside the camp and you do not have any gas, waterand electricity bill.” He also mentioned that he had not received this Home
Ministry order directly so the order was not acceptable for him.
In 2015, CoM assisted this Geneva Camp client in re-applying for a
passport five more times. Each time the investigation officer rejected the application due to the applicant’s camp address and not having gas, water andelectricity bills, which afflict all camp residents. These rejections occurred
despite showing the positive order from the Home Ministry. After that,
CoM submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission(nhrc) on 5 April 2015 about this case. Since April 2015 the nhrc has issued

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9seven letters to the Home Ministry with copy provided to Khalid Hussain of
CoM. However, until now there is still no response from the Home Ministry
to resolve the passport issue. Camp residents have national identity cards
and their names are enlisted in the voter rolls, but they do not enjoy theirfundamental rights in Bangladesh.
Conclusions
Following the 2008 High Court judgment, the government did comply in
issuing national identity cards to most camp residents. However, voter enrollment is still low and the government must do more to treat the Urduspeaking community members as full Bangladeshi citizens and provide
proper rehabilitation with decorum. A tolerant attitude is one of the mostimportant elements to reduce the discrimination against the Bihari community. We propose that the government of Bangladesh establish a rehabilitation trust fund by securing funds from international Islamic organizations,bilateral donors and other national and international donor agencies in order to ensure a safe and secure future for generations of Urdu-speakers in
Bangladesh. We need to remove racism, xenophobia and intolerant attitude
to help make Bangladesh one of the most vibrant multi-lingual and multicultural countries in the world.
Endnotes
1 See Khalid Hussain, “Biharis: On Becoming Citizens of Bangladesh,” FOCUS
Asia-Pacific, March 2016, volume 83, for more information on this issue. The article is available at www.hurights.or.jp/archives/focus/section3/2016/03/biharis-onbecoming-citizens-of-bangladesh.html.
2 For more information about Namati, visit https://namati.org.