UN PFII statements- Bangladesh Human Rights

5th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
United Nations Headquarters, New York
May 15-26 2006

Agenda Item: 4

Collective Statement by Ina Hume
On behalf of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Organisations
Jumma Peoples Network International, Taungya, Tribal Welfare Association, Bangladesh Jatio, Adivasi Parishad, Vanishing Rites
On Human Rights in Bangladesh


Thank you Madame Chair for allowing me this opportunity to speak. I would like to start by bringing to your attention the situation faced by indigenous delegates from Bangladesh, following statements they made at the 4th Permanent Forum last year. A Parliamentary Standing Committee called for us to be summoned to answer our alleged anti-state statements, with the threat of legal repercussions if we were found guilty. It was only after significant international pressure that the summons was dropped, for which we are grateful. I would like to thank all those who did write to the Government of Bangladesh on our behalf, asking them to respect our freedom of speech and civil and political rights as enshrined both in Bangladesh Constitution and International Law.

This type of harassment and intolerance is an indication of prevailing situation in Bangladesh for indigenous peoples and minorities in general. The institutional racism that exists in Bangladesh at various levels of civil service and the military continues to subjugate and persecute indigenous peoples and deny them basic human rights.

I urge the PFII to do all it can to ensure this type of harassment and intimidation by member states does not set a precedent for other countries.

May I also take this opportunity to congratulate Bangladesh on their election to the Human Rights Council, and hope this will mark a new phase in Bangladesh’s understanding of human rights and its obligations to all its people, no matter what their ethnicity, gender, religion or political affiliations.

There are various other instances of serious offences committed against indigenous peoples by military, paramilitary and police personnel. Most of these go unreported particularly when it concerns sexual harassment. Where indigenous peoples attempt to report cases to the police or other authorities i.e. the Home Ministry they are denied access to justice under various pretexts. The police and Home Ministry refuse to take on any cases against the military in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which remains under quasi-martial law and under the rule of the military.

The disregard of legal process was demonstrated recently, on 5th March 2006, when military officers went to the magistrate’s courts in Khagrachari, in broad daylight and put arms in the hands of innocent Jummas and took photographs, in full view of the magistrate. In spite of protests by local lawyers and journalists, nothing was done in spite of complaints by Khagrachari Bar Association. These are some of the methods employed by corrupt military officials to justify the arrest and detention of innocent Jummas, and perhaps their ongoing presence in the region.

There has also been another serious incident of communal violence in Maischari on 3rd April 2006, where a number of Jumma villages were attacked and two Jumma women were gang raped and a Buddhist monk attacked by Bengali settlers. When the women were taken to be examined by doctors to confirm their injuries, doctors either refused to do so, or were pressured to report the women had not been raped. It should be noted that in order for evidence of rape to be submitted under Bangladeshi Law, a woman must be examined by a Government doctor, who are not impartial and have to think of their careers.

There is however no justification for the army to continue to function as an army of occupation, as it continues to do, even since signing of the peace accord in 1997- which calls for the dismantling of all non permanent military camps. In fact in a joint security assessment of the CHT conducted by the Government of Bangladesh and UNDP, it was found that most parts of the CHT had even less security problems than other parts of the country, which has experienced a rise in Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. It was therefore clear that law and order and security related issues of CHT could be dealt with by a local multi-ethnic police force as provided by the Peace Accord.

I support the recommendations made by the Asian Indigenous Peoples Caucus on Human Rights and Women and Children. With particular regard to the recommendation to the UN DPKO. Bangladesh remains the largest contributor to UN Peacekeeping missions, with approximately one tenth of its military serving on mission at any one time, making up nearly 15% of personnel on all UN Peacekeeping missions (as of April 2006). Bangladesh receives lucrative foreign currency from the services it. For UN DPKO to continue to recruit and source peacekeepers from countries such as Bangladesh with such poor human rights records with few checks and balances in place, is an abdication of their duties. Bangladesh continues to top the list of most corrupt countries and most dangerous place for journalists in Transparency International reports. The UN DPKO needs to respond immediately, in a robust manner to these concerns, or it will reap the whirlwind for their inactivity in the future, which could have far more serious repercussions for the entire UN system, than the current diplomacy issues it faces in tackling this matter now.

I would also like to draw your attention to the social afforestation programmes of the Bangladesh Government funded by the Asian Development Bank. These programmes on indigenous lands in North Bengal, Greater Mymensingh and Chittagong Hill Tracts has led to the displacement of indigenous people and relocation of mainstream population on these lands.

Recommendations:
We the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh would like to recommend the following to the PFII to resolve the ongoing human rights violations faced in the country:
• Bringing forth an international mechanism to monitor treaties and agreements between indigenous peoples and states;
• Investigate third party mediation between the Government of Bangladesh and the PCJSS to ensure the full and effective implementation of the stalled CHT Peace Accord

• Encourage all governments, including the Government of Bangladesh, to withdraw their various restrictions in such human rights treaties as the Human Rights Covenants, and CEDAW, and to ratify the treaty on International Criminal Court.

• To strictly monitor and screen the human rights records of national armies, such as that of the Bangladesh Army, before allowing them to participate in UN Peacekeeping duties, and to develop a policy on indigenous peoples with the full participation of indigenous peoples, who have unenviable yet valuable experience of personnel unsuitable for peacekeeping duties. I will submit further detailed practical recommendations in my written statement, which are too lengthy to present in so little time.

• We also urge member states and donors who continue to provide Bangladesh with billions of dollars of development aid to ensure this money is not used to fund the continuing illegal transmigration policy of Bengali settlers to the region, or the ongoing food rations received by said settlers

• We urge member states, UN agencies to ensure development programmes tackle the institutional racism that pervades the civil service and military institutions

• For UN agencies, financial institutions and member states to ensure their programmes are sensitive to indigenous peoples rights and involve free, prior and informed consent

Until and unless there is real improvement in the human rights record of Bangladesh, the international community needs to remain alert to the plight of the indigenous peoples, as their suffering is intolerable in a country with so much international support, and yet so little international scrutiny.


Thank you for your time Madame Chair.