Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) recently released a report presented at a virtual press conference titled "State Recognition and Rights of Birangona Freedom Fighters: Governance Challenges and Way Out”.
The overall objective of the report was to review, analyze and recommend plans for providing registration and facilities to the Birangonas or war heroines, read a press release issued on Thursday.
According to the findings, Birangonas received state recognition and facilities as freedom fighters after almost four decades of the Liberation War.
Then again there were deficiencies in various indicators of good governance in the whole process of providing them with recognition. There was lack of planning, institutional capacity, structural complexity, opportunities for irregularities and corruption, and disregard for accountability and sensitivity.
Due to the socio-cultural position at the grassroots and dearth of social awareness and sensitivity, Birangonas remain marginalized, the report found.
Although there is a good number of non-government and women’s organizations and media dealing with the issues related to the Birangonas, actual work is limited compared to any other activities on women’s issues.
The whole process of getting state recognition and gaining facilities for the Birangonas is based on the conventional bureaucratic system – can often be uncomfortable and complicated for the Birangonas as the sensitivity of this issue is not considered properly.
Recommendations
The report said at the upazila level a committee can be formed with witnesses of the Liberation War to find Birangonas at the local level.
Assistance from the Ministry of Liberation War in assigning people could help in facilities starting from the application process to gazette notification. Information on the gazette notification and other benefits should then reach the beneficiaries.
The process of receiving allowances and other benefits from the time of application for gazetted registration could be completed within a stipulated number of days.
If the application is found valid after checking, the process of interviewing the Birangonas could be dropped.
The accuracy of the information in the gazette could be ensured and special steps to correct age-related errors, especially in the national identity card, can avoid further complexity.
In order to get housing facilities, the precondition of owning a certain amount of land has to be cancelled, and a need to ensure that housing will be allotted to the insolvent and landless Birangonas on a priority basis.
For the respectable position of Birangonas in society, their contribution should be included in the textbooks. The role of Birangonas should be considered more seriously by the organizations working for women and the Liberation War by highlighting the contribution of Birangonas more in the media.
Birangonas should be involved in various government programs during Independence Day and Victory Day.
Awareness measures need to be taken for the social recognition of the Birangonas so that they get motivated to come forward for the respect they deserve.
An effective accountability framework needs to be created for the whole process and the administration needs to pay special attention to irregularities and corruption.
