Bangladesh鈥檚 human rights organisation Odhikar was announced as an awardee of the 2024 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award on Wednesday, according to a press release by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
Despite challenges such as harassment, imprisonment, and surveillance, Odhikar was named as the award winner in recognition of the civil and political rights advocacy it carried out in Bangladesh, said the TFD release.聽
TFD is a Taipei-based national democracy assistance foundation established in 2003.聽
The TFD would host the 19th Asia Democracy and Human Rights Awards ceremony on December 10, International Human Rights Day, this year. The ADHRA includes an awards trophy and a grant of US $1,00,000.
TFD provides the grant to support the awardee organisation鈥檚 continuous efforts and contribution to the consolidation of democracy, said the release.
Odhikar was named as the award-winner after a two-stage reviewing process facilitated by TFD president Da-Chi Liao.
Since its establishment in 1994, Odhikar has been upholding human rights through research, advocacy, overseeing the government and providing training for human rights defenders.
Exposing human rights violation in Bangladesh, such as extra-judicial killings, forced abduction and torture, is one of the flagship programme of Odhikar.
The organisation steered the Bangladesh coalition for motivating the government to ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court in 2010, which led to Bangladesh contributing to international efforts in human rights investigations into the persecution of the Rohingya people starting in 2016.