Dr Koyel Basu

Dr Koyel Basu

About Dr Koyel Basu

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Trouble in paradise: Bhutan's little talked about political prisoners and minority discrimination

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, said, “The long-term imprisonment and mistreatment of political prisoners remains a blight on Bhutan’s human rights record. Bhutanese authorities should release these prisoners and embark on reforms to end torture in custody, unfair trials and poor prison conditions.”

Taliban's war on women: International community must not remain a mute spectator

In a brazen on-camera interview, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, said in response to a question on how Afghan women feel unsafe to leave homes under the Taliban rule, “We keep naughty women at home.” 

South Asia's overcrowded prisons: Lock-up culture needs to give way to reformation and empathy

Some South Asian countries have taken welcome steps toward the release of undertrial prisoners, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. These measures need to be implemented and applied consistently. Biraj Patnaik, 

Is the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar reaching a flashpoint?

The junta must understand that forcible occupation of a land has its pitfalls. The international community is not as politically invested in Myanmar as it ought to be, but the civil society is closely monitoring the Myanmarese atrocities, the killing of innocent children and the vulnerable.

Climate crisis and women's vulnerabilities: Boosting climate resilience in India remains a challenge

Even if the role of women is overlooked or unacknowledged, they should continue to break barriers by fighting the challenges. Only then all gender-blind and biased, often spurious claims of men that they have greater roles and responsibilities in combating ill effects of the climate crisis will be replaced by women who are fighters of climate…

Myanmar’s muddled politics is leading to Irreparable environmental devastation

This gradual decline of the environment - with disastrous consequences for the region including northeastern India and Bangladesh - cannot be arrested without the cooperation of the military rulers who are neck-deep in corruption and self-aggrandizement.

Bangladesh in the time of cyclones: When gender-based violence peaks

Wife battering is universal in Bangladesh in almost all homes. However, this increases manifold during and after cyclones. There is a breakdown of social and familial infrastructure and livelihood patterns and violence increases with economic stress and anxiety.

2022 floods in Pakistan: Violence and vulnerabilities of women increase during climate disasters

Climate crisis is a lesser word to describe the transformative shifts that are taking place in weather conditions across the Global South affecting mostly countries like Pakistan in South Asia. Attitudes of society need to change towards women. Societal attitudes, traditional norms and cultural practices create entrenched gender disparities…

Gendered impact of natural disasters: Vulnerabilities of women increased in a post-tsunami Sri Lanka

The worst part of the disaster was not only loss of resources like property but the sexual violence the women in Sri Lanka faced. Apart from lack of proper nutrition, hygiene and clean water and health care, what was impossible to handle was sexual violence along with high cases of rape and domestic abuse. 

Climate crises affect women more: Vulnerabilities of Nepalese women increased manifold after 2015 earthquake

According to a UN report, three months after the quake in Nepal at least 245 children had been preyed upon by traffickers and that was just the “tip of a growing iceberg”