“What problems do you face while collecting water?”Laxmi Rani Baidya from Shyamnagar Satkhira, a southwestern district of Bangladesh, paused before answering. “The moment we step out of the house, the challenges begin. As women, sometimes talking about these problems feels redundant,” she said, and women around agreed with her. Across Bangladesh’s coastal belt, salinity intrusion has become a burning issue due to climate change. This has made freshwater scarce. Women walk miles every day to collect drinking water and to meet household needs. Along the way, they encounter layers of social, physical, and emotional hardships. In conversations with coastal women, five major challenges were detected that define their daily struggle for water.©UNDP Bangladesh1. A Battle with TimeWomen in coastal areas walk 2–5 km daily to fetch safe drinking water, sometimes two or three times a day, spending up to 6 hours, time that could be used for work, education, or family. In addition to that, sometimes they have to go out after dawn to collect water. If they return late, people start questioning their integrity. And the plight does not end there, going to collect water means children and livestock stay unattended, heightening vulnerability to accidents. Homes are left exposed to theft and robbery, further increasing their sense of insecurity.And even though women bear the responsibility of collecting water, they still require permission from male family members to leave the house. 2. Harassment Both Online and Offline The walk to freshwater sources is often marred by eve teasing and catcalling. Women shared that even while balancing heavy pitchers, they must stay alert to avoid unwanted remarks. With widespread access to smartphones, harassment has taken new forms — men capture photos or videos without consent and circulate them online, causing further humiliation and stigma.3. Menstrual Hygiene and Health Risks Most coastal women rely on cloth rags during menstruation, which becomes especially difficult when walking long distances. To avoid the discomfort, many resort to taking birth-control pills to delay their periods. Even when they have their periods, they remain exposed to saline water. This unsafe condition leads to serious reproductive health complications like infection or cancer. Along with this, carrying heavy pitchers on a regular basis causes prolapsed uterus among women. ©UNDP Bangladesh4. Early Marriage and Domestic ViolenceFrequent harassment on the roads pushes families to marry off girls early, believing it will protect them from stigma. In parallel, prolonged use of birth-control pills disrupts women’s reproductive health, sometimes causing challenges in expecting children. It leads to emotional stress and, in many cases, domestic violence.5. Income Generation and Educational Activities
Since a lot of time goes by collecting water, this constricts their time for other works. They can barely concentrate on their household. This is the first place disrupts educational activities among women and at home reduces income generation opportunities. Many women said that, if they had the time, they would have invested it on livelihood like vegetable farming at their home. 
UNDP Bangladesh, through programmes like Gender-Responsive Coastal Adaptation (GCA) and Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LoGIC); with support from the Green Climate Fund, and the Embassy of Sweden and Denmark, is working to reduce this burden. By installing safe water points closer to homes, these initiatives aim to ensure that no woman has to walk miles just to secure a glass of clean drinking water.

For many women and girls, violence can seep through something as small as a phone screen. An unwanted text, a fake image or unhinged words.  It follows them onto their phones, into their social media feeds, and into the private digital spaces where they hoped to feel safe. This year’s 16 Days of Activism focuses on digital violence. A growing form of harm that shapes how women learn, work, and express themselves online.Across the world, online abuse has become one of the fastest-rising forms of gender-based violence. UN studies show that women, especially young women, face far higher levels of harassment, threats, and non-consensual image sharing than men. WHO reminds us that one in three women will experience some form of violence in their lifetime. A 2023 UN study found that women, particularly young women and activists, are 27 times more likely to be harassed online than men. Today, many of those experiences are happening behind screens, often hidden from family and community support. In Bangladesh, digital violence has taken on new urgency as more young people connect to the internet. Girls are often the first to feel the risks—fake accounts, threatening messages, pressure for photos, and the fear of being shamed online. In remote areas, these fears are even sharper. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) has seen a quiet rise in online harassment, especially among indigenous girls who have limited access to digital literacy and fewer places to seek help. One teacher in Rangamati explained it simply, “Our girls are excited to use phones. But they don’t always feel safe. They know the danger, even when they cannot name it.”To respond to this growing concern, the Ecosystems Restoration Resilient Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (ERRD-CHT) Project, with support from Global Affairs Canada and the European Union, launched the 16 Days of Activism campaign across the region. It aims to raise awareness about both digital and traditional gender-based violence, teach young people how to stay safe online, and bring communities together to support women and girls.Since 25 November 2025, the campaign has reached 3,959 people. This includes 2,672 women and girls and 1,287 men and boys, showing strong engagement from both groups. Students from 24 schools and colleges joined rallies, art competitions, debates, and digital safety sessions. Community members and traditional leaders gathered to discuss how online behaviour affects real lives. Many heard the term “digital violence” for the first time. During a poster-writing session in Khagrachhari, a college student said, “I thought harassment only meant someone touching you. Now I understand that a message can hurt too.”Others shared stories they had kept quiet for years. A young Marma girl whispered after a session, “I was scared to talk about what happened to me online. Today I learned it was not my fault.”Men and boys also took part, discussing their roles in creating safer spaces. A father in Bandarban reflected, “We must guide our sons. What they say online matters. It can protect a girl or break her confidence.”Reproductive Health Care Workers are also helping extend the campaign’s reach by sharing key messages with students and Mothers Club members in schools and colleges. Local police officers are visiting selected schools to talk directly with young people about the 16 Days of Activism, available support services, and how victim support centres operate.Across six upazilas, Local Volunteer Mediators Forums and youth groups are hosting events to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, bringing together teachers, education officers, students, mothers’ groups, and RHCWs to strengthen community awareness and collective action.Through simple materials, participatory learning, and strong collaboration with local authorities, the campaign is helping communities recognise digital harm and stand against it.The message from CHT is safety must include the digital world. When women and girls feel safe online, they can study, lead, and dream without fear. Ending digital violence is not only a campaign. It is a promise of dignity and a step toward equality for everyone.I was scared to talk about what happened to me online. Today I learned it was not my fault.

Op-ed by Stefan Liller, UN Resident Coordinator a.i. and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh, Catherine Breen Kamkong, UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh and Gitanjali Singh, UN Women Representative in Bangladesh.This year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,” is a call to overcome structural barriers that deny women and girls equal access to justice, such as unequal laws, weak enforcement, discriminatory practices and harmful social norms that undermine rights and perpetuate violence.Across the globe, democratic space is narrowing and hard-won gains for gender equality are under pressure. Women and girls continue to face legal and social systems that institutionalise inequality and restrict their access to protection and redress. In 2026, women worldwide enjoy only 64 per cent of the legal rights held by men (World Bank), leaving them disadvantaged in areas ranging from employment and financial security to safety, property ownership and mobility. Without meaningful access to justice, rights remain promises on paper rather than lived realities.In Bangladesh, the experience of survivors underscores the need to further reform protection systems. As one survivor of sexual violence shared: “When I went to seek redress, I felt like the system saw everything except my pain. I kept asking myself: if justice isn’t for women like me, then who is it for? I stayed quiet for years because I thought no one would believe me. Speaking up was the only way for me to survive, but the journey to justice has been harder than the violence itself.” Her words echo the lived realities of many women and girls.The 2024 National Violence Against Women Survey reveals that 54 per cent of women in Bangladesh have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, yet 64 per cent never told anyone. Silence is rarely a choice; it is often a survival strategy shaped by stigma, fear of retaliation, economic dependency and a lack of confidence in formal systems. When survivors do not see a clear, compassionate and effective path to justice, the system itself becomes another source of harm.Recent steps by the Government of Bangladesh to strengthen legal protections are both timely and necessary. New ordinances addressing domestic violence and sexual harassment in workplaces, educational institutions and online spaces, together with commitments to review the Child Marriage Restraint Act, signal a willingness to close systemic gaps. These measures reflect a life-cycle approach to protection, recognising that adolescent girls, young women, women in the home and workplace, women with disabilities, older women and transgender women face different and intersecting risks."Laws, however, only matter if they work for survivors. Justice must be visible, accessible and humane".Access to justice is inseparable from the realisation of women’s rights. Violence against women and girls is both a human rights violation and a public health crisis. Survivors require not only legal remedies but also confidential health services, psychosocial support and quality, survivor-centred case management. The integration of legal assistance with accessible health and social services is essential to ensure a multisectoral response that will enable women and girls to seek help safely and with dignity.Reformed legislation contributes to Bangladesh’s commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goals 5 and 16, as well as international frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action and ILO Convention 190. These instruments, as well as the Commission on the Status of Women 70 platform, help close legal gaps by expanding definitions, extending protections across physical and digital spaces and acknowledging technology-facilitated gender-based violence. The Cyber Security Ordinance (2025) further strengthens efforts to address online abuse, which disproportionately affects women and girls.At the same time, legal reform must be comprehensive. Certain inequitable provisions within personal laws, dowry-related practices and aspects of rape legislation continue to undermine full equality before the law. Addressing these gaps with urgency and consultation is critical to building a coherent and rights-based legal framework.Laws, however, only matter if they work for survivors. Justice must be visible, accessible and humane. Internal complaint committees must be functional, independent and trusted. Reporting mechanisms must be safe and confidential. Police, health providers, social workers, legal aid services, employers and educational institutions must coordinate effectively to ensure timely referrals and survivor-centred support. Multi-sectoral response systems anchored in trained social service professionals and quality case management must be available to all survivors, regardless of age, marital status, disability, ethnicity, location or gender identity.Adequate financing is equally essential. Legal reforms without resources for implementation, monitoring and oversight risk remaining symbolic. Investment in training for law enforcement, judicial actors, health providers and social workers is critical to ensure that survivors are treated with respect and that cases are handled ethically and efficiently. Strengthened data systems, including those addressing technology-facilitated violence, are necessary to track progress, inform policy and hold institutions accountable. Supporting women’s movements and women’s rights organizations, which have long driven legal reform and accountability, is also needed. Preventing child marriage is also central to advancing justice. Child marriage remains both a driver and a consequence of gender inequality and gender-based violence, cutting short girls’ education, exposing them to early pregnancy, which increases their vulnerability to abuse, and closing the door to future opportunities. Ensuring that the Child Marriage Restraint Act is aligned with international human rights standards and effectively enforced will protect girls’ rights, health and futures.Public awareness and community engagement must accompany legal change. Women, girls and young people need accessible information about their rights and available services and the removal of all barriers to accessing these. Men and boys must be engaged as allies in challenging harmful norms and supporting equality. Community and religious leaders, sports champions, musicians and artists can be powerful in a movement to bring about this change for the women and girls of Bangladesh.
Above all, we must be clear: gender-based violence and child marriage are preventable. Strong laws are powerful instruments for shaping safer, more equal societies when enforced with commitment, care and accountability. Justice is about restoring dignity, rebuilding trust and ensuring that every woman and girl can live free from fear.The United Nations, including UNFPA and UN Women, stands firmly with the women and girls, men and boys of Bangladesh, calling for the conservation and extension of gains made and for translating commitments into action. Together, we can ensure equality in law and in practice, so that rights are realised not in theory but in the everyday lives of all women and girls across Bangladesh. The op-ed was originally published in The Daily Star. Click here to read.

In the first session of Bangladesh’s 13th parliament, the government will place before it key ordinances promulgated during the interim period, including the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Ordinance, 2025. With over 600 stakeholders contributing to consultations—including national experts, international voices such as the United Nations, and a wide spectrum of civil society—the drafting process of this ordinance has been unprecedented in its inclusivity. The breadth of engagement sends a strong signal that the weaknesses of the 2009 law needed to be addressed, and that an NHRC responding to the current demands in Bangladesh must have the authority and independence necessary to protect rights effectively.Consideration of the NHRC ordinance comes at a pivotal moment in the country’s democratic transition and institutional renewal. The National Human Rights Commission is central to that renewal. The government and parliament now have the opportunity to empower the commission by endorsing the ordinance and ensuring consideration of key proposals raised by various stakeholders to guarantee its independence, credibility, and service to all people in Bangladesh. A strong NHRC, accountable above all to the citizens, is not a peripheral body; it is a cornerstone of democratic governance, the rule of law, and public trust. It can serve as a vital bridge between citizens and the state—monitoring and investigating human rights conditions, advising on legislation, supporting victims, and promoting accountability.In many countries, national human rights institutions contribute to identifying structural human rights challenges, supporting institutional accountability, and helping address emerging tensions through independent analysis and constructive recommendations. A strengthened NHRC can also play a broader strategic role. The ordinance, in its current form, gives the commission clearer powers to promote and protect human rights, address complaints, conduct investigations, inspect places of detention, and seek remedies. It also designates the NHRC as the national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), an important responsibility that will require ensuring adequate independence and resources.We welcome the ordinance as the most significant strengthening of the NHRC since its establishment, addressing many of the gaps that long limited its compliance with the Paris Principles, including the lack of financial and institutional independence and limitations in its powers. In a transitional context where accountability, prevention, and public confidence are paramount, these gains should be preserved and further strengthened through full parliamentary consideration and proper legislative debate.National human rights institutions, like the NHRC, ought to be established either through constitutional or legislative text. This calls for careful parliamentary deliberation to ensure the institution’s mandate, independence, and credibility are fully secured. It is therefore necessary for parliament, when establishing such institutions, to ensure the presence of a broad mandate, independence, and adequate protections, so that the institution can safeguard all rights and ensure victims are not ignored.Bangladesh can finally establish a National Human Rights Commission fully compliant with the Paris Principles—an institution marked by independence, pluralism, a broad mandate, transparent selection processes, and meaningful engagement with civil society. It would be the commission that many Bangladeshi women and men have long called for. Doing so would reinforce the country’s long-standing commitment to human rights, strengthen public confidence, and advance democratic governance and justice for all.Stefan Liller is the United Nations Resident Coordinator a.i and the UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh.Ajit Singh is the High Commissioner of Canada to Bangladesh.Christian Brix Møller is the Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh.Joris van Bommel is the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh.Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen is the Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh.