I would like to express my sincere congratulations to Dr. Samanta Lal Sen on his appointment as Bangladesh’s new Minister of Health and Family Welfare. I am also grateful to Hon. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for this initiative.
As a female burn survivor, I urge Bangladeshi state legislation and the UN Charter to recognize burn survivors as persons with disabilities, making our nation the first in the world to do so. For this work, the medical team of experts will ascertain the proportion and severity of burns at which an individual’s burn injuries become incapacitating.
It is my humble request to the new minister to fulfill my demand. By fulfilling this demand, Bangladesh will be the first country in the world to list the disabilities of burn survivors and ensure ways to end human rights deprivation.
In 2006, the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was passed by the United Nations.
In this charter, four types of disabled people are written, they are: physical, mental, intellectual and sensory disabilities.
Every nation in the globe has created state laws that are better suited to its particular circumstances in light of the UN Charter.
In light of the UN Charter on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Bangladesh adopted the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act 2013 in this regard.
The Act further specifies the categories of disability. Section 3 of the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act 2013 mentions the types of disabilities, totaling 11 categories according to 1 type of disability.
Our Golden Citizen Card number is determined by adding the corresponding number of those 11 serial numbers to our National Identity Card number.
For example: Autism, Physical Disability, Mental Illness Disability, Visual Impairment, Speech Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Hearing Impairment, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Multidimensional Disability, these 11 serial numbers are in the Golden National Identity Card number. Then there are others at number 12.
The law of Bangladesh further provides that, if any new type of disability is identified, it will be added to this serial number.
It is important to identify “burn disability” as a distinct category in order to identify the disability that I, and all burns like me, experience as a burned woman.
I make this demand to all policymakers concerned with granting us this recognition.
The answer to the question of why there is a need to identify burn wounds as a disability can be said – the skin is the largest organ of the human body.
The exact percentage or extent of these organ burns that lead to disability has yet to be determined. Because the human rights activist of burn survivor in the whole world is only one Bangladeshi woman.
The British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC included this human rights activist in the list of 100 inspiring women in the world in 2023 for the fact that this woman is working to establish the human rights of other burn survivors through this human rights organization in Bangladesh.
As much as I feel honored in my personal life to be included in the list of 100 most uninspiring women in the world, I feel a responsibility to request that the relevant officials of our government take the initiative to establish our rights.
The Ministry of Health of the Government will take the initiative to complete this work by giving the identity of a disabled person to the burnt people, which has been the main demand of my burning life for the last 27 years.
From the experience of adversity in personal life, in the human rights awareness work of women with disabilities, we have seen that women with disabilities due to burns are discriminated against in enjoying almost all human rights.
In that case, in order to remove the discrimination against us, it is important to be sure of our identity first of all, so that we can express our demands.
Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute is the premier treatment center for burn patients in Bangladesh. Every citizen of Bangladesh knows that this institute was built through the efforts of Dr. Samanta Lal sir.
As the Honorable Prime Minister Samant Lala sir has been given the right responsibility for the entire medical care of the country, I have a sincere personal hope that Bangladesh will be the first country in the world to recognize burn survivors as disabled citizens.
As a burn woman, I and my colleagues founded an organization out of a desire to work for the rights of other burn survivor women. The name of this organization is “Voice and Views”. Voice & Vision is the only organization in the world working to raise awareness of the human rights of burn victims.
Born in Bangladesh, this organization hopes that if the governments of all countries around the world recognize burn-related disabilities as a specific type, it will make our Bangladesh government more respected as a disability-friendly government around the world.
Irrespective of the cause of the burn, whether accidental, accidental, violent or war-torn, and whatever the type of burn, such as hot water, chemical explosion, short circuit, acid throwing, fire accident or war injury, the human rights of a burnt person are violated so that Otherwise that is what we want to achieve.
As a burn survivor, this is my demand to the newly appointed government of Bangladesh, to our dear Prime Minister and to the Health Minister of this country.
