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April 11, 2004 

BNWLA celebrates its 25th anniversary

Nahid Afreen

The members of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) urged the female folk of the country to be more proactive and united to uphold the dignity of women and ensure access of the disadvantaged section of the society to the justice system. The member lawyers' met together in the convention as part of the seven day long program to celebrate the glorious Silver Jubilee of the association.

The occasion was inaugurated by Hon'ble Justice Syed Jillur Rahman Muddassir Husain, the Chief Justice of Bangladesh while HE Aud Lise Norheim, Ambassador, the Royel Norwegian Embassy and HE Borje Mattsson, Ambassador, Embassy of Sweden attended the occasion as chief guest.

Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers'Association (BNWLA) has started its journey in 1979 through the committed efforts of some women lawyers of Bangladesh and it was subsequently registered as a legal body in1981 under the Societies Registration Act 1860. Its mission is to "Enable women to become self-reliant, conscious of their rights and productive members of society founded on justice".

Three keynote papers were presented on "Role of Men Lawyers to combat violence in South Asian Countries perspective" by three renowned women lawyers, Advocate Fawzia karim Feroze of Bangladesh, Adv. Chandreyi Alam of India and Adv Ernestine Christaline Pinto of Pakistan in the morning session.

Justice ATM Afzal, the former Chief Justice of the Country chaired the session of the inauguration day. The 2nd day of the occasion was marked by the Regional Workshop on Prosecution of Women and Child Trafficker, which was chaired by the President of the organization. Three keynote papers were presented by three regional expert lawyers in the field of human trafficking in the workshop.

The 3rd day of the occasion was marked by the visit of One Stop Crisis Center (OCC) at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and a discussion meeting. In the 4 the days a discussion meeting titled 'Follow up Couples and Individuals' was organised by the association.

The divisional level sensitisation workshop as a part of the Silver Jubilee celebration was held at Rajshahi, Khulna and Chittagong. The seven day long celebration ended by a cultural program at the Rabindra Sarabar in the Dahanmondi area of the city.

Nahid Afreen is an Advocate