EMBASSY OF DENMARK ENCOURAGES GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH TO SIGN THE ILO CONVENTION 169 ON INDIGENOUS AND TRIBAL PEOPLE. On June 8 the International Labour Organization, National Human Rights Commission and Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum hosted a seminar on the ILO Convention 169 and Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh. Among the speakers were the Honorable Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Mr. Shafique Ahmed and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Denmark, Jan Møller Hansen. The purpose of the seminar was to raise awareness on the issues of indigenous peoples and discuss the possibility of ratifying the 169 Convention from 1989 to replace the existing commitment to Convention 107, which is from 1957. The change marks a shift in paradigm from the 107 Convention’s integrationists approach to a more right-based approach in Convention 169. Chairman from the National Human Rights Commission Dr. Mizanu Rahman criticized the undemocratic nature of the existing convention by referring to Bangladeshi Liberation values such as equality, social justice and dignity, and then stating that ‘to claim Bangladesh as a democracy we need to recognize indigenous people. Unity in diversity is the beauty of a democracy’. The Country Director of ILO in Bangladesh, Mr. André Bogui, continued along the same line and hailed the right-based approach of Convention 169 by stating that ‘we need to place indigenous people at the center of their own development path’.           Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Shafique Ahmed, underlined the fact that ‘Bangladesh is a country of many diverse entities, but we are all Bangladeshis’. Although a part of the 169 Convention is being followed in practice, the Deputy Head of Mission from the Embassy of Denmark, Jan Møller Hansen made it clear that a complete adoption of the 169 Convention is needed to secure a sustainable development, and strongly encouraged the Government of Bangladesh to ratify the convention.     ----------------------------------- courtesy: embassy of Denmark, Dhaka.