For
immediate release
PRESS
STATEMENT
The UPR
Review of Bangladesh: state parties show concern for human rights issues of
indigenous peoples and religious minorities of Bangladesh
The
International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission urges the Government to
immediately implement the 1997 CHT Accord in full
(2 May 2013, Dhaka) The
International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) appreciates the
statements made by several States which placed great emphasis on the importance
of implementing the 1997 CHT Accord in full, at the second cycle of the
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on 29 April, 2013.
A
number of participating countries commended the Government for the progress
made to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord but observed with concern
that many important provisions of the Accord have yet to be implemented. They
recommended that the Government fully implement the Accord and create a roadmap
with a timeframe for its implementation. They also called for immediate action to
amend the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 to reflect the CHT Accord.
A number of countries called on the Government to ratify ILO Convention No 169 and
to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and religious minorities, including
ensuring the safety and security of places of their worship.
The
Government of Bangladesh, in the national report that it submitted to the UPR
process, stated that most of the clauses of the Accord have been fully or
partially implemented and a modest number is under implementation.
It
is however the view of the CHTC that some of the main factors responsible for
unrest and human rights violations in the CHT, especially ongoing land disputes
and militarization, remain far from properly addressed:
·
Although the Government
points out that 283 military camps have been dismantled from the CHT, the area
still remains heavily militarized. The
PCJSS (Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity) party estimates that the
number of military camps withdrawn to date is around 74, out of more than 500
(temporary) military camps.
·
Whilst the Land
Commission was set up and a chairperson appointed during this term of the Grand
Alliance, necessary amendments to the Land Commission Act to make it conform to
the CHT Accord have still not been adopted.
·
During his
three-year tenure, the Chairperson of the Land Commission failed to settle any
land dispute in the CHT and was perceived to have worked against the interests
of the indigenous people.
·
Disappointingly,
the Government has yet to appoint his successor, which raises doubts about the
willingness of the Government’s stated commitment to make progress on the key
issue of the land rights of indigenous people. The Land Commission chairman's
post has been vacant since 20 July 2012.
·
The Government
has placed restrictions on NGOs seeking to monitor human rights violations in
the area, including restrictions on the movement of the CHTC. Protests over
these restrictions have had no effect.
·
The CHTC was
particularly distressed by the Foreign Minister’s apparent denial of the
identity of the indigenous people living in the CHT and elsewhere in the
country, referring to them officially as ‘ethnic minorities’, along with her
lack of sensitivity, which was evidenced by her response to a question in which
she stated that “all Bangladeshis” were indigenous people, thus undermining the
right of indigenous people in the CHT to explicit recognition of their separate
identity.
Continuing
harassment of civil society in the CHT is common. For example, the Rangamati
Deputy Commissioner’s office asked local non-government organizations (NGOs) in
November 2011 to submit a report regarding, among others, information about the
percentage of Bangali and Pahari beneficiaries, and the percentage of Bangali
and ‘Upajati’ [tribal] employees. In no other part of Bangladesh are NGOs asked
to give the ethnic make-up of their beneficiaries or employees in this manner
to the district administration. We are not aware of any laws in the country
which direct NGOs to maintain such ethnicity percentages and under which such a
report could be deemed necessary.
The
CHTC has also observed with concern the increasing restrictions on civil
society in the name of security in the CHT. We are aware that foreigners in the
CHT have been handed instructions to give a complete schedule of every place
they plan to visit and every person they expect to talk to. Hotels in the CHT
have also received directions to not take any bookings in foreigners’ names
unless they have clearance from the district administration. In a democratic
country, the singling out of the CHT with such instructions not only breaches the
rights to liberty and freedom of association and expression but also raises
serious concerns about the intentions of the Government of Bangladesh regarding
implementation of the CHT Accord as promised in their Election Manifesto.
In
August 2011, the Bandarban district administration reportedly ordered British
national Jeremy Paul Allen to leave the district because he had participated in
a solidarity program of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum calling for
constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples at the Bandarban Press Club.
CHTC adviser Thomas Eskildsen, a US national, was summarily asked to leave
Bandarban Hill District in January 2012, and later barred from entering
Bangladesh. Swedish journalist, Per Liljas, who reported
about human rights violations of indigenous people in international media, was
also deported from Bandarban in July 2012. In our view, these acts constitute
serious violations of human rights, including the fundamental right not to be
discriminated against, which is enshrined in all human rights instruments. We
deplore such acts by the Government and recommend that the Government of
Bangladesh immediately withdraw directives to the local administration in the
CHT and allow free movement of persons in and out of the three hill districts,
like the rest of the country, as should be the practice in any democratic
country.
Restrictions
have also been placed on the work of the CHTC itself. The CHTC has been
carrying out periodic missions to the CHT since August 2008. Our missions have
always focused on engaging all stakeholders in the process of facilitating the
Government to implement the 1997 CHT Accord. The work of the CHTC is to support
the Government and especially the Ministry for CHT Affairs (the establishment
of which was an outcome of the CHT Accord itself) in identifying obstacles to
such implementation. Despite this, we have faced constant physical surveillance
from members of the intelligence agencies. In September 2010 the Government
gave written instructions to CHTC placing restrictions on the work of the CHTC.
In November 2011 CHTC members had to return from CHT without completing their
mission as a result of restrictions placed during their work. This is a
violation of basic rights, including the right to freedom of movement and
personal liberty, as well as freedom of expression and CHTC protested these
instructions and asked the Government to withdraw these restrictions but did
not receive any response. All these acts are contrary to the Government’s
pledge to implement the CHT Accord and bring peace to the CHT.
In
light of the upcoming national elections, the CHTC would like to remind the Government
of its election pledge to implement the 1997 CHT Accord in full, a pledge that
was reiterated in the 2009 UPR session, when the Government of Bangladesh stated
that it would fully implement the Accord “in the shortest possible time within
the framework of the constitution of Bangladesh”. With very little time left
before the end of its tenure, the CHTC, consonant with the statements of a
number of state parties at the recently concluded UPR, calls upon the Government
to fulfill this pledge as a matter of priority.
On
behalf of the CHT Commission,
Eric
Avebury Sultana
Kamal Elsa
Stamatopoulou
Co-chair
of the Co-chair of
the Co-chair of the
CHT
Commission CHT
Commission CHT
Commission
Note to editors: On 29 April,
Bangladesh underwent a review as part of the second cycle of the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR), a process which involves a review of the human rights
records of all 192 UN member States once every four years under the auspices of
the UN Human Rights Council. During the three-hour session, the Foreign
Minister of Bangladesh presented the national report and responded to the
questions and concerns that were raised by other states and heard the
recommendations by them. The issue of the implementation of the 1997 CHT Accord
and rights of ethnic and religious minorities were also brought up by several
states during the session.
Media contact:
Hana Shams Ahmed, Coordinator, International CHT Commission;
Phone: 01819289622; email:
chtcomm@gmail.com
