Originally posted in The Daily Star on 30 January 2026
The interim government yesterday gave the final approval to a draft ordinance aimed at preventing sexual harassment at workplaces and educational institutions.
Called ‘Workplace and Educational Institutions Sexual Harassment Prevention Ordinance, 2026’, it defines sexual harassment broadly to include all forms of unwanted and degrading physical, verbal, non-verbal and online conduct.
It also brings sexual harassment through social media, email, messaging platforms and other digital technologies under its purview. It makes these protections enforceable across the country as well as in other government-affiliated organisations operating outside Bangladesh.
The development comes 16 years after the High Court issued a set of guidelines and directives defining sexual misdemeanours to prevent any kind of physical, mental or sexual harassment of women, girls and children at their workplaces, educational institutions and other public places including roads.
The directive, which comes following a writ petition, stipulates the authorities concerned to form a five-member harassment complaint committee headed by a woman at every workplace and institution to investigate allegations of harassment of women.
It also directed the government to make a law on the basis of the guidelines and ruled that the guidelines will be treated as a law until the law is made. However, no law was enacted and the directives were seldom observed.
In April 2010, the education ministry issued a circular directing all educational institutions to form such committees within three weeks.
While many institutions did set up the committees, they have largely remained ineffective due to the absence of any monitoring mechanism.
The ordinance approved yesterday is expected to provide a strong legal foundation for ensuring safety, justice and accountability in workplaces and educational institutions.
It will play a pivotal role in fostering an honourable, inclusive and humane society, according to a press release from the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
Every workplace and educational institution will be required to set up an Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) within a stipulated timeframe.
The ICC will be tasked with receiving and investigating complaints, ensuring the complainant’s safety during the inquiry and recommending appropriate disciplinary action. Penalties may range from formal reprimand to demotion, termination or even expulsion in the case of educational institutions.
The ordinance mandates survivor-centric procedures to safeguard the complainant’s safety, confidentiality and dignity.
It strictly prohibits any form of retaliatory action for filing a complaint and includes provisions to address such behaviour, said the press release.
At the same time, the ordinance incorporates specific safeguards to ensure fairness in cases of false complaints, so that genuine victims are not discouraged from coming forward.
If forming an ICC is not feasible, the ordinance provides for the establishment of local complaint committees through deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers, ensuring that citizens still have an effective channel to lodge complaints.
To ensure effective implementation, monitoring committees will be established at both district and upazila levels. In addition, a special fund will be created to support victims with financial assistance, rehabilitation, counselling, legal aid and awareness‑building initiatives.
The draft ordinance has four chapters and 20 sections, said Suchismita Tithi, assistant press secretary, at a press briefing yesterday.
“One important aspect is that the draft includes physical, verbal, mental, suggestive and digital-space behaviour as sexual harassment.”
A women-led committee will be able to receive complaints verbally, in writing or online and the investigation must be completed within 90 days of receiving the complaint.
The ordinance considers providing security and mental support to the complainant and includes special provisions separately for children and persons with disabilities, she added.
Also at yesterday’s advisory council meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, the draft Domestic Violence Prevention Ordinance, 2026 and nine other ordinances, proposals and policies were approved.
The draft Domestic Violence Prevention Ordinance 2026, which will replace the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2010, aims to protect women and children, prevent domestic abuse, ensure speedy trials and establish survivor-centric remedies.
It introduces a more comprehensive and timely legal framework, broadens the definition of domestic violence to include physical and psychological abuse, sexual conduct or abuse and economic abuse within its scope.
The ordinance seeks to uphold families as safe and secure spaces while ensuring swift protection for women and children who faced such abuse, their safe shelter, medical care, legal aid and rehabilitation, according to the press release from the CA’s Press Wing.
