BAKGRUND: arsenik i grundvattenbrunnar har blivit ett allvarligt folkhälsoproblem i Bangladesh. Mellan 35-57 miljoner människor riskerar att dricka arsenikförgiftat vatten. Arsenik är cancerframkallande och arsenikförgiftning är vanligast hos fattiga människor. Hälsoministern i Bangladesh meddelade 1996 att det uppstått en landsomfattande kris och att dödsfall rapporterats. Sida finansierade lån till grundvattenbrunnar i Bangladesh mellan 1992 och 2000 genom biståndsprogrammet RESP. SYFTE: att undersöka hur RESP fungerade, hur ansvariga för RESP reagerade på arsenikförgiftningen och vad Sida gör för att förbättra folkhälsan i Bangladesh. METOD: en kvalitativ retrospektiv fallstudie baserad på arkivdokument och intervjuer med Sidas hälsoenhet och ansvariga för RESP. RESULTAT: RESP skapade arbetstillfällen genom att fattiga fick bygga upp infrastruktur på landsbygden och mikrokrediter gavs för att starta småföretag. Krediter gavs även till brunnsborrning. Sida uppmärksammade inte arsenikkatastrofen förrän journalister började ställa frågor om varför Sida inte engagerade sig. Sida agerade först i slutet av 1999 då huvudkontoret upptäckte att Sida finansierat brunnar. Ett mindre projekt för att hindra arsenikförgiftning hos målgruppen startades tre år senare med avslutades efter 16 månader. Intern korrespondens i Sidas arkiv visar på en likgiltig inställning till dem som drabbas av arsenikförgiftning. Sidas hälsoenhet uppgav att ohälsa är ett stort utvecklingshinder och att kostnader till följd av sjukdom är en av de största fattigdomsfällorna. Sida har dock lämnat ansvaret för arsenikproblematiken till andra biståndsorganisationer. Sida ser RESP som ett lyckat program trots att det visat sig att det inte nådde de fattigaste. Denna grupp ansågs svår att få med då de ofta är sjuka och kringdrivande. / BACKGROUND: arsenic contamination of groundwater tube wells has become a serious public health problem in Bangladesh and 35 to 57 million people are drinking arsenic poisoned water. Arsenic is a carcinogen and arsenicosis is more prevalent among the poorest of the population. In 1996 The Health Minister of Bangladesh stated that this had caused a countrywide crisis and that deaths had been reported. Sida financed loans to groundwater tube wells in Bangladesh between 1992 and 2000 through a development aid programme called RESP. AIM: to examine how RESP functioned, how those responsible for the program reacted on the arsenic crisis and what Sida is doing to improve the public’s health in Bangladesh. METHOD: a qualitative retrospective case study based on archive records and interviews with the health department at Sida and responsible for RESP. MAIN RESULTS: RESP created job opportunities by hiring poor people to build up rural infrastructure and by giving micro credits to finance small businesses. Loans were also given to install tube wells. Sida did not take notice of the arsenic crisis until journalists started asking questions why Sida wasn’t involved. Sida did not react until end of 1999 when the headquarters discovered that Sida had financed tube wells. A smaller arsenic mitigation project started tree years later but was terminated after 16 month. In-house correspondence at Sida reveals an indifferent attitude to the sufferers of arsenicosis. Sida’s health department stated that ill health is a major development obstacle and that health related costs are one of the largest poverty traps. Despite this knowledge Sida has left the responsibility for the arsenic crisis to other aid organizations. Sida see RESP as a successful program even though it didn’t reach the poorest population in the programme area. These people were seen as difficult to reach as they often are sick and homeless.

With our project, we are focusing on the Rohingya refugee issue. In 2017 thousands of people had to cross the borders of Myanmar due to mass genocide triggered by ethnic cleansing and around 800,000 of them flee to Bangladesh as refugees. Whereas, Bangladesh has 2 million informal settlers of its own known as internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been displaced due to extreme climatic conditions. So, we are dealing with the issue of how refugees can coexist in a country where there are already thousands homeless.  Currently, the government has built a settlement for 100,000 people on a newly emerged island, Bhashan Char in the Bay of Bengal. Thousands of Rohingya refugees are already being relocated there. However, with the predicted sea-level rise not only the island but the majority of the coastal area of Bangladesh might go underwater. Our project is an attempt to imagine a resilient community, where both refugees and Bangladeshi people will be able to coexist in Bhashan Char, build empathy for each other, and be connected with the surroundings. Simultaneously, be able to co-develop preparedness for future changes connected to sea-level rise using local potential.  Hence, the aim of our project is to establish conditions of co-existence for the refugees and IDPs of Bangladesh where they can co-create resilient communities in connection with the local context and the changing environment.

The project aims to restore the cultural and historical richness of Bengali nation in urban scale and preserve the historical site of the area which contains some glorious memories of our Language Movement. To pass the history to new generation and to establish our cultural richness, a Language Movement Museum and a Library are proposed to be designed in the Shaheed Minar (Martyr Monument) Complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This museum and library will represent the movement of 21 February, 1952 that depicts our love for the mother tongue which is an unprecedented event for the whole world.

Human rights and foreign policy often come together in dealing with humanitarian crises, especially when we consider how a country’s foreign policy affects the rights of refugees as protection of the refugees often involves bringing together international actors and different countries. One such example is the Rohingya refugee crisis. Since the outbreak of the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, Bangladesh’s foreign policy and its aims have directly impacted the rights of the refugees who have sought shelter in Bangladesh. The country has adopted a foreign policy that aims to seek assistance in hosting the refugees while putting pressure on Myanmar to take back the refugees. In doing so, Bangladesh has both protected the rights of refugees and has restricted or threatened them. Bangladesh’s identity as a Muslim majority state and also one of fast economic growth has played a significant role in shaping Bangladesh’s policy. A meaningful analysis of Bangladesh’s foreign policy concerning the Rohingya and its impact on their rights, therefore, requires us to use the theory of constructivism in international relations studies. Constructivism’s focus on identity as the primary shaping foreign policy grants us the tools to understand how and why Bangladesh treated the Rohingya humanitarian crisis.

Aim: This study aims to analyze four strategies consumers use in order to avoid responsibility concerning the impact one’s clothing consumption can have on human rights. The purpose is to investigate whether the clothing industry contributes, or does not contribute, to human rights. Furthermore the aim is to analyze how these established arguments are justifiable in relation to a theory of moral responsibility. Methodology: This study includes a descriptive and normative argumentation analysis. The data that has been collected for this study mainly consists of various scientific reports from independent sources, reports from diverse human rights organizations and also sustainability reports from a few chosen clothing companies between the years 2015–2019. The chosen clothing companies included in this study were selected as being the largest within the fashion industry. Findings and conclusion: The results of this study are based on four pro-arguments and four contra-arguments which, respectively, are presented. The pro-argumentation supports the thesis that the clothing industry contributes to human rights whereas the counter argumentation undermines the thesis of the study. The facts presented in each argument successfully either support or undermine the thesis and therefore provide with the interpretation that there can be noted connections, as well as lack of connections, between the clothing industry and human rights. The conclusions presented from the analysis show that it is possible for consumers to use the described four strategies in order to avoid responsibility.

Guided by Sonja Foss' (2005) theory of visual rhetoric, this thesis is an exploration of political cartoons from Bangladesh, published between October 2016 - October 2020. The study is framed by the Digital Security Act (DSA), an anti-freedom of speech law enacted by the ruling Awami League government in October 2018. The cartoons analyzed in this study are divided into two sets – 16 published in a two-year period prior to the enactment of the DSA, and 16 published within two years after the enactment of the law. A criterion-based sampling technique was used to select cartoons published online by two Bangladeshi cartoonists' – Mehedi Haque and Sadatuddin Ahmed Amil. A thematic analysis of the cartoons revealed that corruption and threats to freedom of expression are recurring themes in both sets of data, while cartoons published pre-DSA also contain commentary on the prime minister and the government's feelings of contentment. Declining democratic practices is a major theme in cartoons published post-DSA. By utilizing the method of visual rhetorical analysis on six cartoons, the study delved deeper into the cartoons' construction of visual arguments for each theme. Finally, a comparative analysis of the themes and visual arguments in cartoons from each data set revealed that cartoons published after October 2018 are differentiated by disappearing characters and storylines, the use of indirect language, and implicit visual arguments, as well as increased usage of metaphors. Cartoons published post-DSA also have a sharper focus on specific news events as indicators of national issues. This study contributes to a growing body of research on the DSA, highlights how a specific medium of expression can be affected by anti-freedom of speech laws, and provides implications for media industries facing legal challenges. / MACOM / Bangladesh, a country in South Asia, is currently following a democratic parliamentary system where Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina is the leader of the government. Her party, Awami League (AL) has been in power since 2008. Since AL's enactment of the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) in October 2018, a culture of fear has persisted within the country's media industry as well as the public, as the law's vague wording allows people to be charged for the mildest criticism of the government and the PM. Guided by the theory of visual rhetoric (Foss, 2005), this study is framed by the DSA in its analysis of editorial cartoons published online by cartoonists Mehedi Haque and Sadatuddin Ahmed Amil between October 2016 – October 2020. A thematic analysis of cartoons published before and after the enactment of the law shows the major topics that emerge from Bangladeshi political cartoons, such as corruption, threats to freedom of expression, contentment of the government, and declining democratic practices. Visual rhetorical analysis performed on one cartoon that best represents each theme explains in detail how the cartoons use visual arguments to convey their message. Finally, a comparison between the pre- and post-DSA data sets shows that cartoons published after October 2018 are marked by disappearing characters and storylines, the use of indirect language, and implicit visual arguments, as well as increased usage of metaphors. Cartoons published post-DSA also have a sharper focus on specific news events as indicators of national issues. This study adds to developing scholarship on the DSA, highlights how editorial cartoons are affected by anti-free speech laws, and offers insights on the media sector encountering legal challenges.

Why do some political parties in Bangladesh discriminate against the Rohingya, while some do not? Much has been written about the conflict in Myanmar, but the plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh remains understudied. This lack of understanding is underscored by the five million Syrian refugees fleeing their own civil war that dominates the news and the attention of scholars. The Rohingya, however, are stateless: they are denied citizenship in their native Myanmar and are forced to find refuge in whichever country will take them. Much has been published that links immigration policy to security considerations and the national identity and ethnic homogeneity of the host country. I argue that it is the domestic politics of Bangladesh that directly influences the policies concerning, and subsequent treatment of, the Rohingya migrants. This leads back to the question I pose: why is it that some political parties in Bangladesh actively support the ethnic group while others actively discriminate against the Rohingya? I argue that it is the individual ideologies of that party that can be directly attributed to their stance on Rohingya. Using qualitative analysis, I measure how a party's foreign policy, social policy, and political ideology affects that organization's attitude toward Rohingya refugees. Understanding the largely political nature of refugee policy will allow policy-makers, intergovernmental organizations, and human rights groups to be better equipped to improve the conditions of, not only the Rohingya population, but other vulnerable refugee groups that seek safety in foreign states.

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