Speakers at a programme yesterday said they would inform a visiting team of the United Nations about the human rights violations suffered by indigenous people in Bangladesh in recent years.
The UN team will be visiting Dhaka to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
“We know that a UN team will visit Bangladesh to investigate the allegations brought against the previous regime. We can raise the issue of the human rights violations, torture and other abuses faced by indigenous people over the years,” said Barrister Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust.
She made the remarks as a panel speaker at a seminar titled “The Responsibility of the State and the Broader Population on Overall Security, Including Land, Basic, and Human Rights of the Indigenous People,” held at the capital’s CIRDAP auditorium.
The seminar was organised by 14 indigenous organisations, including the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, in observance of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2024.
Hossain also protested against the security forces for obstructing efforts to paint graffiti on the abduction of Kalpana Chakma in different locations of Chattogram Hill Tracts region.
Speaking on reforms, she said, “We need reform in the judiciary, but we must ensure that we do not destroy everything in the name of reform.”
The primary task of the interim government is to ensure the safety of those who are still insecure, she opined.
Addressing the event, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International, Bangladesh, said the country needs to develop a framework based on the mass aspirations of a “new Bangladesh, new state structure, and new political understanding” that emerged following the recent mass uprising.
“We do not want any discrimination against indigenous people after the mass uprising. We do not want another authoritarian government,” he said, calling for action over the attacks and violence on indigenous and minority communities recently and in previous years.
He also called for separate UN investigations into each rights violation against indigenous people in previous years and sought constitutional recognition of indigenous people.
Iftekharuzzaman also recommended overhauling the CHT Affairs Ministry and renaming it as “Indigenous Rights Affairs Ministry,” saying that the ministry was created to facilitate militarisation in the CHT region.
Shamsul Huda, executive director at the Association for Land Reform and Development, noted that attacks on indigenous, marginalised communities, and women are a regular political phenomenon in the country.
He demanded the state to recognise the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, eliminate all discrimination against indigenous communities, ratify the ILO Convention 169, and formulate relevant laws accordingly.
Prof Robaet Ferdous of Dhaka University expressed concern that Bangalee people would outnumber indigenous populations in the CHT within 10 years at the current rate.
The abuses against indigenous people across the country hinder efforts to create a diverse, gender and language-neutral country, he noted, adding that the country’s people’s emancipation will remain incomplete without emancipation of indigenous peoples.
Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, conducted the seminar.
