Filed on:June 14, 2010
chtnews.com
News No. 113/2010, June 10, 2010
ARMY soldiers have been re-deployed to a camp in Rangamati district,
raising serious doubt about the government’s intention to implement
the Chittagong Hill Tracts accord signed in 1997.
Sources said the government had re-established Gabghona army camp
under Moghban Union in Rangamati Sadar Upazila on 6 June.
The camp was one of the 35 camps and one brigade the government of
Awami League had withdrawn last year.
Even the withdrawal was a sham as the army personnel was actually
replaced by paramilitary Ansar.
..............................
Source: chtnews.com
Filed on:
chtnews.com
News No. 111/2010, June 09, 2010
Members of the Bangladesh Army in Baghaihat have seized relief
materials meant for the 19-20 February Sajek attack victims.
In a statement issued to the media convenor of the Sajek Land
Protection Committee, Gyanendu Bikash Chakma and convenor of Sajek
Nari Samaj, Ms Ompika Chakma, condemned the seizure of the relief
goods of the Baptist Church USA.
(more...)
Filed on:
chtnews.com
News No. 110/2010, June 08, 2010
One person was injured when the settlers attacked the Jummas
protesting a land grab attempt yesterday in Ramgarh in Khagrachari
district.
Sources said a group of 20 – 25 settlers led by Kashem and Belal from
Thulipara began clearing jungles to occupy approximately 15 acres of
land belonging to the Jummas in the village of Pilabhanga under
Batnatoli Union.
(more...)
Filed on:
chtnews.com
News No. 108/2010, June 04, 2010
Two members of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) and one
supporter have been arrested in Matiranga in Khagrachari district.
UPDF sources said a group of army personnel from Matiranga camp raided
the house of Chuijai Marma (45) son of Apru Marma in Rubber Plantation
No. 2 in Ballyachari in the small hours today. (more...)
Filed on:May 17, 2010
14 May 2010
Members of the Rangamati Ananda Vihara Management Committee have been harassed as they went to Sajek to distribute relief materials to the victims of 19 – 20 February attacks by army and settlers on Jumma villages in Sajek under Rangamati district.
According to sources, members of the Rangamati Ananda Vihara Management Committee led by Saroj Kanti Khisha, ex-General Manager of Rupali Bank, Chittagong Branch, today went to Sajek to distribute relief to the victims. However, they were stopped by army at ECB camp in Baghaihat at 11:30am. (more…)
Filed on:
17 May 2010
Photo: Courtesy Daily Star
THE High Court Division on April 13 declared the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Regional Council Act of 1998 unconstitutional and illegal. On the government’s petition the judgement was later stayed for six weeks by the Appellate Division. Now the government has to seek leave to appeal, the granting of which would take the matter to the apex court. (more…)
Filed on:
16 May 2010
- Fruit gardens- destroyed by Forest Department in Alikadam. Photo – courtesy chtonline.
The Forest Department has destroyed fruit gardens on approximately 22 acres of land belonging to Marma and Mro communities in Alikadam in the southern Chittagong Hill Tracts – all in the name of afforestation.
A representative of the chtnews.com visited the spot at Shil Bonia Para under Choukyang Union (Ward No. 1) in Alikadam Upazila after the incident,and he has provided the following brief information. (more…)
Filed on:
16 May 2010
- A vast tobacco field in Dighinala upazila in Khagrachari – Photo: Courtesy Daily Star
Commercial cultivation of tobacco is increasing in the three hill districts despite protests by environmentalists, damaging the environment, reducing soil fertility and occupying more and plain lands earlier used for growing rice and other crops.
Besides, at least 30 to 40 thousand tonnes of firewood are burnt in about 2000 tobacco processing kilns (chulli) a year, depleting natural forests, environmentalists said.
Over 2626 hectares of land were brought under tobacco cultivation in the three districts last year against 2000 hectares in 2004-2005 financial year, sources in Agriculture Extension Department (AED) said. The area will increase in the coming season, they said. (more…)
Filed on:May 16, 2010
- A vast tobacco field at Shilchhari at Kaptia in Rangamati. Photo Courtesy Daily Star
Tobacco cultivation is posing a threat to the public health and the environment in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
Although tobacco cultivation is strictly prohibited, the tobacco companies are doing brisk business, violating the rules. Besides, they motivate the farmers openly by offering incentives in cash and kind to cultivate tobacco.
At least 60 to 70 thousand metric tones of firewood are being burnt in 2,000 tobacco processing kilns every year, causing depletion of reserve and natural forests, threatening environment and ecology in the hills, environmentalists said. (more…)
Filed on:April 30, 2010
FOCUS OF REPORT
This report compares the laws of Bangladesh concerning its indigenous (or “tribal”) peoples with provisions of the
ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Populations, 1957 (Convention No. 107), and where relevant, with the
provisions of the related ILO Recommendation No. 104, the ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples,
1989 (Convention No. 169) and the ILO Convention on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation, 1958
(Convention No. 111). These laws include those that apply to the semi-autonomous Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
region and those that apply to the rest of the country (referred to here as “the plains” region). (more…)
Filed on:
28 April 2010
Following elections at the Economic and Social Council and the appointment by the President of ECOSOC, the following individuals have been selected as members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the term 2011-2013, starting 1 January 2011… (more…)
Filed on:April 24, 2010
24 April 2010
9th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
United Nations Headquarters, New York
April 19-30, 2010
Agenda Item: 4 – Human Rights: Implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Statement by Ida Nicolaisen
Co-chair of the international Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission
Thank you Mr. Chair for allowing me this opportunity to address the Permanent Forum.
I would like to start by acknowledging the declared intentions and important steps taken by the current Government in Bangladesh to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997 since it resumed office after the 2008 Parliamentary election. It gave clear assurances to the Human Rights Council in the context of the Universal Periodic Review that it would promote and respect the rights of its indigenous peoples. Although Bangladesh abstained when the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007, it is also highly encouraging that the Prime Minister publicly stated the government’s support of the UNDRIP during the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People in 2009.
(more…)
Filed on:April 19, 2010
16 April 2010
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed for six weeks the High Court verdict that declared illegal and unconstitutional the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Act 1998.
Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Md Muzammel Hossain also asked the government to file a regular leave-to-appeal petition with the SC against the HC verdict within this period (more…)
Filed on:
16 April 2010
Courtesy: Daily Star: Naeem Mohaiemen
ACCORDING to media reports, February-March saw the worst violence against Jumma (Pahari) people in the CHT region since the 1997 Peace Accord. However, to put it in context outside a newspaper myopic timeline, the arson, killing, and rapes in Mahalchari (2006) were probably comparable in scale (10 villages attacked simultaneously).
But since that happened under a BNP government that is vocally anti-Peace Accord, it was perhaps considered “normal” (the new normal). The latest anti-Jumma violence since February 2010 has a different resonance, as it is under an AL government that came in on an election manifesto that included implementation of the 1997 Accord. (more…)
Filed on:April 13, 2010
13 April 2010
The High Court on Tuesday declared Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Act, 1998 illegal but ruled that the peace accord was legal.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury passed the order upon two writ petitions filed by Badiuzzaman, a Bangalee settler in CHT, and Tajul Islam, a lawyer. (more…)
Filed on:
13 April 2010
Five Jumma organisations – Sajek Land Protection Committee, Sajek Women Association, Democratic Youth Forum, Hill Students’ Council and Hill Women’s Federation – staged a token hunger strike today on Dhaka University campus in protest at continuing repression on the Jumma people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. (more…)
Filed on:
13 April 2010
The United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) has condemned the pulling down of black flags, festoons and banners hoisted by its front organisations in support of a call for boycott of Boisabi festival. (more…)
Filed on:
11 April 2010
Courtesy BSS
Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni today clarified the government position on ethnic minority groups in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and elsewhere of the country saying Bangladesh does not have any “indigenous population” as meant in
the UN jargon.
(more…)
