Underprivileged Children’s Education Program

Members of the Queensland Bar Association were again very generous in making donations to the Underprivileged Children’s Education Program – Bangladesh (“UCEP”) in 2007 (an initiative directed to seeking donations for the education of children living in slums in Bangladesh).

A cheque representing AUD$25,615.64, donated largely by members of the Queensland Bar, was presented to the Executive Director of UCEP at a function at the Australian High Commission in Dhaka in December 2007.  This money will be used for 2008 education of approximately 405 Bangladeshi children living in slums.

One of the newspaper articles that appeared as a result of this presentation is reproduced below.  You may recognise three of the persons in the photograph accompanying that article, namely Justice Peter Dutney, Bob Reed and me.  The Australian High Commissioner, Mr Douglas Foskett (who wholeheartedly supports this initiative) is also present as is the Executive Director of UCEP, Brigadier General Aftabuddin Ahmed (Retd) and the CEO of UCEP, Wing Commander Muhammad Mahbubul Huq (Retd).

I will again be writing to members in approximately August 2008 seeking donations for the 2009 education of children who live in slums in Bangladesh.

Dan O’Gorman SC

The article below was published in The Independent on 14 December 2007, page 4.

Australian Bar Association’s help for UCEP

Members of the Australian Bar Association along with their families and friends in Australia, donated Taka 1,500,000 to sponsor under-privileged working children of the UCEP general and technical schools. A cheque for the amount was handed over recently to UCEP Executive Director Brigadier General Aftabuddin Ahmed (Retd) by the Australian High Commissioner Douglas Foskett and Dan O’Gorman from the Australian Bar Association.

“This is a noble initiative to support the children who may otherwise never get a chance to receive formal education”, commented the High Commissioner while handing over the cheque. He also lauded UCEP for assisting the underpriviliged working children to become educated, skilled and eventually self-reliant individuals.

Mr O’Gorman said the Bar Association was very pleased to be able to assist the important work being undertaken by UCEP in providing education and vocational training to the distressed working children of Bangladesh.

Brigadier Ahmed expressed his gratitude to the Bar Association for their kind gesture of support. “The donation would go a long way in improving the lives of these children”, he added.

The Bar Association members are in Dhaka to conduct voluntarily a ten-day long Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop for improving the strength, independence and influence of the Bangladeshi barristers and advocates practising in the courts.

This workshop has been held in Bangladesh every year since 1996 with funding from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the press release added.