Women’s Affair Reform Commission to submit report on Saturday

The Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, formed in the second phase of state reforms aimed at the democratic transition of Bangladesh following power change, is set to submit its report on Saturday.

Members of the commission will present the report to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus at his office at 4:30pm.

According to the Chief Advisor’s Office (CAO), the commission members will hold a press conference at 5:30pm at the Foreign Service Academy after submitting the report.

The interim government formed the reform commission on Nov 18, 2024, appointing Shirin Parveen Haque, founder member of the women’s rights group Nari Pokkho, as its head.

In this phase, the government also set up the Media, Health Affairs, Labour, and Local Government Reform Commissions.

These commissions were initially tasked with submitting their reports within 90 days, but their deadlines were extended twice, first to Mar 31 and later to Apr 30.

Among them, the Local Government Reform Commission’s preliminary recommendations were submitted on Feb 22, followed by the Media Reform Commission’s report on Mar 22.

With Saturday's submission, only the health and labour reform reports will remain.

With the submission of the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission’s report, only the Health and Labour Affairs Reform Commissions’ reports remain outstanding.

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Aug 5, 2024, the interim government in October formed six commissions to initiate state reforms.

Reports from the first-phase commissions—on constitutional, judiciary, electoral, public administration,

police and Anti-Corruption Commission reforms—have already been released.

The National Consensus Commission has begun dialogue with political parties since Mar 20 to reach a consensus on the recommendations of the five reform commissions, except the Police Reform Commission.