Experts call for effective steps to protect small ethnic groups

Eminent personalities have called on the government to take necessary and effective measures to save the lives of the country's small ethnic groups, protect their land rights, and stop their eviction from their lands.

They have also demanded the formation of a separate ministry for small ethnic groups living in the plains of the country.

They put forward these demands at a virtual discussion arranged by the Bangladesh Adibasi Forum, marking the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2021, on Monday.

They also demanded the terms of the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT)  Peace Accord, signed almost two decades ago, be fully implemented, the CHT Land Commission be properly enforced, and a separate land commission be set up to protect the land rights of small ethnic groups in the plains.

Speakers said a law would have to be enacted to form a land commission for the small ethnic groups in the plains, along the lines of the CHT Land Commission. 

At the same time, they called for constitutional recognition and legal protection for about 78 ethnic minorities in the country.
 
Human rights activist Sultana Kamal said the overall condition of the country's small ethnic groups is deteriorating every year.  We make various demands to the government every year, but no substantive initiative has been taken to protect the living standards of ethnic minorities.
 
She said the Chattogram Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed in 1997 when Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina was the Prime Minister, but there is not much progress in the implementation of the agreement.
 
Pankaj Bhattacharya, president of Oikya National Awami Party (NAP), said ethnic minority groups of people have been living on lands in different parts of the country for generations. Many of them do not have any documents to show for these lands. Taking advantage of this, their lands in the plains are being grabbed, making these ethnic minorities landless, gradually.
 
Hasanul Haque Inu, MP, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said people of ethnic minorities are historically at a disadvantage. Lagging behind, they are also oppressed. They are oppressed at the hands of the administration as well as by people of the majority. They continue to be ousted from their lands, said Inu.
 
Fazle Hossain Badsha, MP, convener of the Parliamentary Caucus on Tribal Affairs, demanded the formation of a separate ministry for the ethnic minorities of the plains. If it is not affiliated to the ministry, no citizen gets the allocation. Therefore, a ministry should be formed in the form of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.
 
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said, "There has been a demand for the celebration of Indigenous Day nationally for a long time, but we have not been able to do it."

Mesbah Kamal, professor of Dhaka University, said the government should be sincere in the formation of a land commission for people of small ethnic minorities in the plains. The United Nations recognised their land rights many years ago, and there is no alternative to implementing a separate land commission by enacting a law to make that recognition effective.
 
Chakma circle chief, Barrister Raja Debashish Roy, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Parishad general secretary Ranadas Gupta, Bangladesh Adibasi Forum General Secretary Sanjeeb Drong also spoke.

The day was celebrated on online platforms because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme of the day was, 'Leaving No One Behind: Indigenous Peoples and the Call for a New Social Contract'.