Khushi Kabir,
Human Rights Activist
Photography by: Ashraf Uddin Apu01
Khushi Kabir, starts by discussing why she chose to enter the world of development. “After the Liberation war, the will to build a better Bangladesh was prevalent among many, including myself. As a result, I had a strong desire to do something for the country and see it positively transform with my own eyes. That is what inspired me towards this cause.”
The social worker mentions that she began by working for Sir Fazle Hassan Abed at BRAC, during its early days. Later on, she joined Nijera Kori so she could work directly at the grassroots level, “BRAC was taking up a lot of projects at the time and getting involved at every possible strata. My interest however, was specifically to work with the rural people and their issues, so I joined Nijera Kori.”
She has accomplished a lot via Nijera Kori. She says,“I would consider the most successful campaigns to be the land rights campaign by the institution.” Khushi Kabir elaborates further, “Previously underprivileged people were evicted from their own place illegally by rich malefactors. As a result they could not claim what was their own. Our success is that we‘ve been able to convince the government that ‘Illegal Land Grabbing’ has been a regular occurence and needed to be addressed. We created awareness among citizens at large that this illegal activity is not acceptable.”
When asked where Bangladesh stands, in context to global development Khushi confidently says, “Bangladesh has been doing great in various facets; such as, increasing school enrolments, reducing disparity between genders, ensuring security for women, reducing instances of child marriage and issues related to dowry and bringing an end to female feticide etc.”
When discussing the rights of the LGBT Community, Khushi remarks, “The subject matter is still a criminal offense in Bangladesh. Social workers are trying to create awareness and remove the communal stigma that presides over the LGBT community. This sector has a long way to go and much work and dedication needs to be put into it. But on a positive note, the movement has begun and hopefully in a few years’ time we can see some changes for the better”
When asked what she wishes for in the New Year, Khushi Kabir was very direct, “My dream for the New Year is to achieve a uniform family code instead of the different religious laws that we follow. This is to ensure that everyone has equal rights. People can follow their own religious rules if they want to, but sadly in general the court delivered rules will preside.” – By Mehrin Mubdi Chowdhury