Nasreen Pervin Huq (; born
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
, 18 November 1958, died
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
, 24 April 2006) was a prominent women's activist and campaigner for women's rights and social justice.
She died in an accident at her home in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...
, when she was crushed by a vehicle. The vehicle was driven by her chauffeur, who was picking her up to go to work as Director of the UK non-governmental organisation
Action Aid
ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.
ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organi ...
. Though her death was ruled accidental, some think the driver was paid off by a foreign figure.
Early life and education
Nasreen Huq was born into a prominent Bangladeshi family; her father, Rafiqul Huq, was an engineer and her mother,
Jaheda Khanum, a poet and translator of poetry. Her early education was at a Catholic Missionary School in Bangladesh (Holy Cross Girls' School and College). Her parents then sent her as a teenager to
The Hockaday School
The Hockaday School is an independent, secular, college preparatory day school for girls Pre-K through 12 located in Dallas, Texas, United States. The Hockaday School is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest.
His ...
, a private girls school in Dallas, Texas.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in biology from the
State University of New York at Purchase
The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...
, Nasreen Huq turned to nutrition and studied for a master's degree at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. One of her teachers there described her as "a woman with unlimited energy, enthusiasm, and idealism." After completing her studies she decided, unlike many other expatriate Bangladeshis, not to settle in the USA but to return home, because she felt that she could contribute to national development. Later on, she adopted a Bangladeshi child who lives with her family now.
Activities in Bangladesh
On her return to Dhaka in 1988 Nasreen Huq was recruited by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. Now known by its acronym,
BRAC is one of the largest non-governmental agencies in the world with a mission to alleviate poverty and empower the poor. Nasreen Huq joined the Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC and started her working life supporting BRAC's health and nutrition programmes. In 1992 she was recruited by the US agency
Helen Keller International as Policy Advisor and contributed to both a national nutritional surveillance project and to an innovative homestead gardening programme. In 2002 she left HKI to take up the post of Country Director of
Action Aid
ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.
ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organi ...
in Bangladesh, a job for which she was ideally suited, as the agency has programmes in health, development and social justice.
As well as these official duties Nasreen Huq also contributed to many national and international agencies in the field of women's health and rights. She was a regular advisor on gender issues to the Government of Bangladesh; she was a member of the Governing Board of the Social Development Foundation in Dhaka; she was a member of the Bangladesh Committee for Human Rights and Governance Project; she was a member of a regional advisory panel for the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
on reproductive health; and she was a member of the Programme Advisory Committee of the Asia Pacific Research and Resources Centre on Women and Health.
For almost 20 years Nasreen Huq also applied her natural sense of justice to her work as a volunteer with ''Naripokkho'', a women's development charity, for whom she had coordinated both the Women's Health Team and the Safe Motherhood Team. Within ''Naripokkho'' Nasreen Huq founded and led a national campaign against acid violence to highlight this form of vengeance which led to the formation of the
Acid Survivors Foundation
The Acid Survivors Foundation is a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation dedicated to raising awareness and preventing acid attacks and providing survivors with medical and legal aid.
History
The Foundation was founded in Dhaka in 1999 by ...
. Some 250 people are blinded or maimed in Bangladesh each year by having acid thrown on their face, many of them women because of their refusal to accept the advances of a suitor, but also a growing number of men, often because of disputes over land. Through her work with ''Naripokkho'' Nasreen Huq brought attention to this practice and helped survivors to obtain justice.
The universal nature of her Nasreen Huq's life was reflected by the fact that Buddhist, Hindu and Christian prayers were said at her funeral services in addition to receiving the normal Muslim rites. She was survived by her husband, Nurul Islam Bhuiyan, and by her 18-month-old adopted daughter, Jamila Shuleka, who was in her arms at the time of the accident, but was unhurt. Her sudden death has led to theories that it was linked to a controversial plan for an open cast coal mine that Nasreen Huq was campaigning against,
though this has not been proven.
Obituaries and tributes
The Guardian newspaper, UKThe Independent newspaper, Bangladesh Banglarights.net, Bangladesh
See also
*
ActionAid
ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.
ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organi ...
*
Acid Survivors Foundation
The Acid Survivors Foundation is a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation dedicated to raising awareness and preventing acid attacks and providing survivors with medical and legal aid.
History
The Foundation was founded in Dhaka in 1999 by ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huq, Nasreen Pervin
Huq, Pervin Nasreen
Huq, Pervin Nasreen
Huq, Pervin Nasreen
Huq, Pervin Nasreen
Huq, Nasreen Pervin
State University of New York at Purchase alumni
Hockaday School alumni