District Manager, HRLS Program, conducts a client workshop in the presence of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Sakhipur Upazila, Tangail. Cedit: BRAC DHAKA, Bangladesh, Mar 16 2021 (IPS) - The 410 Legal Aid Centers that I manage in Bangladesh for BRAC’s Human Rights and Legal Aid Services received approximately 35,900 requests for assistance in 2020. Almost all of them involve gender-based violence against women and girls. In Bangladesh, gender-based violence comes in many forms: physical abuse; husbands throwing wives out of the home in domestic disputes; husbands demanding that their wives get more dowry money from their families, and child marriage, among others. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the problem, as unemployment and other financial stresses have grown. BRAC documented a nearly 31 percent (8,709) increase in reported incidents of violence against women and girls in 2020 compared to the same time last year (4,566).