Speakers at a discussion here on Tuesday urged the government to take proper initiatives to protect the rights of indigenous people in the country ending any type of torture on them.
They also sought necessary steps to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh that falls on August 9 like other international days.
The speakers made the call at a discussion titled ‘Landslide, Eviction of Indigenous People and Human Rights’ organised marking the day.
Fifteen non-government organisations jointly organised the discussion at CIRDAP auditorium in the city with human rights activist adv Sultana Kamal in the chair.
Eminent columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) executive director barrister Sara Hossain, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (Bela) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan and president of Parliamentary Caucus on indigenous affairs Fazle Hossain Badsha, MP, among others, spoke. They also urged the government to fulfill their promise to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracks Treaty for the betterment of indigenous people and bring an end to the injustice made on them.
Abul Maksud said it is the government’s responsibility to mark the International Indigenous Day with necessary initiatives as the United Nations fixed the Day and Bangladesh was part of it.
He said, the country is now separated into two parts-one is large and another is small, and this separation appears inconsistent with democracy.
Dhaka University’s associate professor Robayet Ferdous and general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong presented the keynote papers.
Robayet Ferdous said 30 people lost their lives every year on average over the last 11 years due to land slides.
He said one-fourth forest of the Chittagong Hill Tracks has been deforested in the last 12 years and 61 percent of fountains have been destroyed for which the risk of landslide has increased in recent days.
Robayet Ferdous said the number of tribal people has declined significantly in the last few years with an increasing number of Bengali people. The ratio of the tribal-Bengali people was 91:9 in 1960, 59:41 in 1980 and 51:49 in 2011, he added. Sanjeeb Drong said the rights of indigenous people are part of human rights, and the tribal people are facing very tough time compared to anytime in the past.
Earlier on Monday, a group of United Nations’ experts and specialist bodies warned that the world’s indigenous peoples still face huge challenges a decade after the adoption of an historic declaration on their rights.
Speaking ahead of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the group says States must put words into actions to end discrimination, exclusion and lack of protection illustrated by the worsening murder rate of human rights defenders.
