Indigenous Communities
Rights violation incidents rose alarmingly in 2012
Says Kapaeeng Foundation report
Human rights violations against indigenous communities, including reported cases of violence, land grabbing and dispossession, intensified alarmingly last year, states a Kapaeeng Foundation report.
The 183-page report, based on incidents of 2012 and on the overall human rights situation of the adivasi community, was launched by the indigenous rights organisation in the capital's Cirdap Auditorium yesterday.
In addition to nine communal attacks perpetrated on indigenous communities, the report highlights the murder of 16 people, torture on another 150 and demolition of 300 houses.
It underlines the increasing incidents of violence against indigenous women and children, with the perpetrators enjoying complete impunity in most cases.
A total of 17 indigenous women and children, out of 75 who were subjected to violence, were raped.
Land disputes remain the central issue driving much of the violence, communal attacks and conflicts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and plains.
The report argues that despite being an electoral pledge of the ruling Awami League, a land commission has not been formed to take special measures in securing the rights of indigenous communities over their land.
Moreover, over 11 corporations, including Destiny Group, occupied thousands of acres of land in the CHT.
It recommends, among others, the full implementation of the 1997 CHT peace accord, a stop to displacement of indigenous people from their ancestral lands and constitutional recognition to adivasis.
Addressing the launching, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman said the state must be “put to the dock†for the human rights violations against its citizens.
Prominent human rights activist Hameeda Hossan underlined the need to follow-up on cases where justice was delayed or denied in order to figure out the constraints to accessing justice.
Sanjeev Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, urged the government to acknowledge the report and not dismiss it as a conspiracy.
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