On 9 May 2012 a minor indigenous Jumma girl named Ms Sujata Chakma (11 years), daughter of late Mr. Jyotish Chandra Chakma and Ms. Mongala Devi Chakma of Ultachari mouza area of Atarakchara union under Longadu upazila in Rangamati hill district was allegedly killed after rape by a Bengali settler. The victim was a student of class 4 of Ultachari Government Primary School. The girl was brutally killed by chopping on the neck with sharp weapon. (more…)

Massacres in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Violence against indigenous Jumma women, such as, rape, killing and kidnapping etc. are being reported regularly in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The biggest concern in rape and other violence against indigenous women in CHT is the lack of access to justice and absolute impunity that perpetrators enjoy. From January 2007 to February 2012, at least 51 incidents of violence against (more…)

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena categorically said it is possible to solve the existing problems of the Chittagong Hill Tracts through implementing Hill Tracts Peace Treaty-1997.

(more…)

GHRD joined Bangladeshi diaspora, human rights and social-religious organisations in a demonstration at the UK Parliament in London on the 29th of February. The protest, calling for the protection of minorities in Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, was a response to the recent violence committed against Hindu communities in Hathazari, in Chittagong.

Members of Parliament heard and responded to the demands and received a written petition presented by the inter-religious groups.

Please click the link to watch the video http://youtu.be/WSGD0T6ty6w

Betar Bangla, UK based Bangla radio is going to broadcast live discussion on current CHT’s crisis and indigenous peoples issues of Bangladesh.  

This live discussion will be aired tomorrow 8th of August 2011 at 3 O’clok GMT, 3pm London time, 8pm Bangladesh time. Locally (within London) can be listened at 1503 medium wave within 10 kilometers.

Jumma Peoples Network UK’s spokesperson Lal Amlai and its member Mong Shing Thwai will be participating in the discussion. Biplob Rahman, journalist, writer and expert on CHT will also be participating online from Bangladesh. The program will be conducted by Suja Mahmud, Journalist, Betar Bangla.

How to listen live: 

Please go to the website - www.Betarbangla.org.uk  then click listen live.

The general segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session rejected the official position of Bangladesh government on the non-Bangalee people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), and adopted the report of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The Bangladesh government, represented by Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, raised its concern over the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) going beyond its mandate in dealing with the issue of implementing the CHT Peace Accord, on the ground that there are no indigenous people in CHT. (more…)

UN ECOSOC rejects Bangladesh Government’s challenge to UNPFII’s mandate to deal with CHT Accord

The General Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), whose session started on 22^nd July, ended yesterday (29^th) in Geneva, Switzerland. ECOSOC is the parent body of several subsidiary bodies, including the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), and reports to the UN general Assembly. 

After intense negotiations over the past three days and even up to the last minute of the agenda, the ECOSOC rejected the GoB’s requests and adopted the UNPFII report. Bangladesh had expressed its concerns over the PFII going beyond its mandate in dealing with the issue of the implementation of the CHT Accord of 1997, on the ground that there were no indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Statements in explanation of its position were made by the GOB, as by others among the fifty-four members of ECOSOC. However, the GoB lacking solidarity from other ECOSOC member-states, accepted to ‘compromise.’ (more…)

29 July, 2011         To download: CHTCommission_Statement_ECOSOC

To

His Excellency Lazarous Kapambwe

President of the Economic and Social Council

The United Nations

Greetings from the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission.

While the Economic and Social Council’s session is going on, the CHT Commission objects to statements made recently by Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Dipu Moni, stating that it was a ‘misperception’ and ‘misrepresentation’ to refer to the ethnic groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) as ‘indigenous’ in reference to the report of the tenth session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues .1 Her remarks on the CHT peoples is discriminatory and disrespectful towards them as full citizens of Bangladesh, and also reflects a substantive and discriminatory misinterpretation of Bangladeshi law and history and of international human rights law. The majoritarianism approach and claim of ethnic superiority reflected in the assertions made by the Foreign Minister denies the basic values of pluralism and diversity that is observed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (more…)

Statement of Raja Devasish Roy, Chakma Chief and member of UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issiue on the statement of the foreign minister of Banladesh Dr Dipu Moni on the Indigenous status of the peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts asmentioned in the report of the 10th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues & as reported in bdnews24.com on 26 July,2011(http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=2&id=201888&hb=top)

Dhaka 27 July 2011

I am constrained to have to make a statement controverting a statement of the Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. Dipu Moni, as reported in the bdnews24.com on 26 July, 2011 and in national daily newspapers of Dhaka on 27 July, 2011 – including the Prothom Alo and The Daily Star – regarding the indigenous status of the hill peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (hereafter “CHT”), generally, and in reference to a report of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, at its tenth session at UN Headquarters in New York, in May, 2011. (more…)

House of Lords seminar’s video  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cht+seminar+at+house+of+lords&aq=f)

Militarization and its impact on the Jumma People

Survival International is a worldwide organisation supporting the rights of tribal peoples. We have been campaigning for the rights of the Jumma peoples for 30 years.

The military conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts began in the late 1970s with the formation of the Shanti Bahini, the armed wing of the Jumma’s political party waged a low –level guerilla war against the government of Bangladesh. The military response to this low intensity war and the subsequent militarization of the region, has been beyond all sense of proportion and continues to this day. As Chris Lars- Baer pointed out in his report for the UN permanent  forum this year – the military response in the CHT is a counter insurgency to an insurgency which ended in the 1990s. (more…)

House of Lords seminar’s video  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cht+seminar+at+house+of+lords&aq=f)

Thank you to Lord Avebury and the Jumma People’s Network for the invitation to speak at this very important event.

We are pleased to be present today to share some of our observations from monitoring the situation for the Jumma in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Sadly, our recent interviews with Jumma in the region confirm that human rights violations are continuing and the Jumma have no access to justice. (more…)

To download: CHTCommission_LetterToPM_Constitution

Honourable Prime Minister,

Greetings from the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) expresses its serious concern about the contents of the 15th amendment to the National Constitution of Bangladesh, which was passed by the Parliament on 30th June 2011. The CHT Commission had been hopeful that the four founding values (democracy, socialism, nationalism and secularism) upon which the original 1972 Constitution was founded would be upheld in full. We are instead disturbed to note that many of the provisions now inserted in the Constitution are antithetical to principles of equality, marginalize minorities, have negative implications for the development of the country and will have consequences for democracy, stability, growth and progress of the entire country.

We set out below a summary of the key changes which concern us and the background to these: 

• • The insertion of the phrase “Bismillah‐ar‐Rahman‐ar‐Rahim” before the preamble to the constitution was added in the fifth amendment to the Constitution in 1979 by military ruler, General Ziaur Rahman along with the phrase inserting ‘trust and faith in almighty Allah’ in place of ‘secularism’ (Art. 8). This has now been reinserted by the 15th Amendment. (more…)

PCJSS protested against terming indigenous peoples as ‘Bengali’ and non-recognition of indigenous peoples and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord of 1997 in the Constitution. PCJSS rejected the Fifteen Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2011 and asked the government for its revision.

PCJSS leaders expressed their agitation in a large public meeting held on 8 July 2011 in Rangamati district headquarters in the CHT reiterating their demands for full implementation of the CHT Accord. (more…)

Press Release: Seminar on CHT at the House of Lords, on 04 July 2011

Lord Eric Avebury, Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, with the co-operation of Jumma Peoples Network UK (JPNUK) organised a seminar on Chittagong Hill Tracts, which was held at the House of Lords on 4^th of July 2011.

Lord Avebury chaired the seminar in which speakers from different organisations raised their concern over the gross human rights violations against the indigenous Jumma peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh. They also raised their concern regarding the delay of the implementation the CHT Peace Accord, which was signed in 1997. (more…)

(Extracted copy in relation to the recommendations on Bangladesh / CHT. For full report please click  10th Session Report 2011

102. The Permanent Forum takes note of the study by Lars-Anders Baer on the status of the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997 (E/C.19/2011/6). The Permanent Forum also takes note of the concerns raised by the representative of the Government of Bangladesh, as well as other Governments, indigenous peoples’ organizations and non-governmental organizations, during the discussions at the tenth session. Further, the Permanent Forum notes the steps taken by the Government of Bangladesh to implement the Accord. The Permanent Forum recommends the following:

(a) That, consistent with the code of conduct for United Nations peacekeeping personnel, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations prevent military personnel and units that are violating human rights from participating in international peacekeeping activities under the auspices of the United Nations, in order to maintain the integrity of the indigenous peoples concerned; (more…)