To improve the access to justice for disadvantaged and marginalised groups of people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Local Government Division with support from the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Porgramme (UNDP) has launched Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh (AVCB) Phase –II.
Following a successful implementation of phase -I from 2006-2015, phase-II of the AVCB project started in 2016 in 1,080 unions, under a tri-partnership with EU, UNDP and GoB.
The project started with an aim to create wider access to dispute resolutions services for the rural poor people.
It is now further scaled up to CHT with additional 4.5 million Euro funding from EU to make local authorities more responsive to local justice needs and offer legal services, said a media release.
Mesbahul Islam, Secretary of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs addressed the launching event at the Parjatan Conference Room in Rangamati today (Wednesday) as the chief guest.
EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Renjse Teerink spoke on the occasion about the importance of village courts for the marginalised groups of people in CHT to ensure the access to justice in quick and affordable manner.
Among others, Sudipto Mukerjee, Resident Representative of UNDP Bangladesh, Roxana Quader, National Project Director, AVCBII and Additional Secretary, LGD, Van Nguyen, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh also spoke.
Earlier, Mohammad Tanvir Azam Siddique, Deputy Secretary, LGD and Sarder Asaduzzaman, National Project Coordinator, AVCB II presented the keynote paper on ‘Strengthening Traditional Justice System in the CHT’.
Hill District Councils and representatives of CHT Regional Council were also present at the launching ceremony.
