Dhaka, Aug 10 — The Bangladesh Adivasi Forum has called on the government to take concrete measures to safeguard the constitutional, cultural, land and legal rights of the country's indigenous communities, warning that many groups in the hills and plains now face serious threats to their very existence, local media reported.
The forum said that 55 years after independence, indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) continue to face land dispossession, while their human rights are being violated daily under "military rule and state oppression".
Marking International Indigenous Peoples' Day on Sunday, a discussion meeting, public rally, and cultural program were held at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka. The event was attended by academicians, lawyers, human rights and women's rights activists, writers, researchers and many others, leading Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.
Addressing the gathering, Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said: "For three decades now, we have been campaigning for indigenous peoples' right to self-determination. More than four million indigenous people live in Bangladesh. We believe the Bangladeshi state must grant them constitutional recognition to protect their language, identity, land, culture, and self-identity."
"The coexistence of different ethnic communities is what makes Bangladesh rich in linguistic, cultural, and traditional diversity -- and that diversity is our country's beauty and strength. To protect indigenous peoples' language, culture, and heritage, we must stop seizing and evicting them from their land in the name of development. At the same time, the state must take effective steps to secure their land and cultural rights," he added.
Former Bangladeshi parliamentarian and Vice President of Parbatya Chittagong Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), Ushatan Talukder, said that the indigenous communities, despite being an integral part of Bangladesh's rich diversity, continue to face discrimination and challenges over constitutional recognition, land rights, language, culture and identity.
Talukder said that even after 55 years of independence, many of their fundamental rights remain unmet, The Dhaka Tribune reported.
In the absence of the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum's president, PCJSS staff member Trijinad Chakma read out his written statement, which highlighted the plight of the indigenous community of the country.
"The CHT Accord, signed on December 2, 1997, to resolve the problems of hill indigenous peoples, is now approaching 29 years -- yet the government has shown no real will to fully implement it. The situation for plainland indigenous communities is even more precarious: eviction from land, violence against women, discrimination, and impunity have pushed them further and further into the margins," the statement added.
The Bangladesh Adivasi Forum called on the authorities to grant indigenous peoples constitutional recognition, including the right to self-determination, and to fully and effectively implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord by announcing a time-bound roadmap.
It also urged the authorities to end all forms of oppression and persecution against indigenous communities and immediately withdraw all false cases filed against them.