An overwhelming majority of women encounter some level of sexual harassment in their pursuit of an education or livelihood in Bangladesh, despite the High Court issuing guidelines in May 2009 to help prevent sexual harassment at educational institutions and in workplaces. It also asked all the universities to undertake awareness-raising programmes on sexual harassment, including holding seminars and debates. She said she was only made aware of the requirement for complaint committees by this newspaper. “Generally, we report to proctors’ office when we fall victim to sexual harassment,” she said. Prof Dr Mohibul Aziz, a member of Sexual Harassment Complaint Committee at Chittagong University, found la ack of awareness building campaigns to be the reason for students’ ignorance about the committees.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 17, 2017 18:56 UTC