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PRESS STATEMENT:SAJEK'S BURNT VILLAGES:CITIZEN'S TEAM CALLS FOR INQUIRY AND URGENT RELIEF
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A group of citizens conducted an on-site inquiry on 28th and 29th April 2008 in Sajek Union, Rangamati
District, following press reports of about 150 houses being burnt down across seven villages in the area.
On arrival in the area, we saw that in eight villages within the reserved forest area in Sajek Union --
Nursery Para, Daney Bhaibachora, Bamey Bhaibachora, Purbopara, Balughatpara, Retkaba, MSF Para and
Gongaram Mukh
more...(HTML version)
more...(MS Word version)
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Lord Eric Avebury sends protest letter to Raja Devasish Roy through H E Mr Iftekhar Chowdhury to protest against ethnic cleansing in Sajek by settlers and religious persecution in Bangladesh
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I appreciate that you have handed over responsibility for the CHT to Raja Devasish Roy, but since I haven’t an
email address for him I’d be very grateful of you could forward this to him
more...(HTML version)
more...(MS Word version)
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Indigenous Jumma People's Network USA (IJPN) & Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, USA (BHBCUC)
jointly hold a 'RALLY' in front of UN at 1PM-3PM on Friday, 25th April 2008
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Indigenous Jumma People's Network USA (IJPN) & Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, USA (BHBCUC)
jointly hold a 'RALLY' in front of UN at 1PM-3PM on Friday, 25th April 2008. Buddha Rattan Bhikkhu, president,
IJPN, USA & as many as 15 other monks were present at the rally and talked about CHT & minority problems.
Three presidents & secretary respectively of BHBCUC, USA Ratan Barua, Nabendu Dutta,
Thomas D. Roy and Sushil Saha were present. One monk from Tibbet joined the gathering.
Three other monks from Burma respectively Ven Kheminda; U Suriya & Ashin Indaka joined & supported our demands.
...more info...
...more rally photos...
...more Sajek arson photos...
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Life Is Not Ours: Attacks on indigenous Jumma peoples of Bangladesh and the need for international action
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On 20th April 2008 as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues gathered in New York to hold
its seventh session, hundreds of illegal plain settlers attacked seven indigenous Jumma villages in the
Chittagtong Hill Tracts (CHTs) of Bangladesh. These villages - Nursery Para, Baibachara, Purba Para,
Nangal Mura, Retkaba, Simana para and Gangaram Mukh of Sajek union under Baghaichari upazila
(sub-district) in Rangamati district were attacked for 4 hours from 9.30 pm to 1.30 am on 20 April 2008.
more...
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Australian Jummas sent letter to Honourable Adviser to the Care Taker Government, Bangladesh
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We commend the government’s initiative to partly enforce the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation
Amendment Act of 2003 through the activation of criminal courts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts by
early March 2008 (The Daily Star, 27 February 2008).
more...
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Roundtable Discussion on "Land Disputes in the CHT: Ways to Settling the Issue" held in Dhaka
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A roundtable discussion titled "Land Disputes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT):
Ways to Settling the Issue" was organized by the eminent citizens on 31 March 2008 at WVA Auditorium in Dhaka.
Former Vice Chancellor of Jahangirnagar University Zillur Rahman Siddiqui presided over the discussion
while Prof Ajoy Roy of Dhaka University presented the keynote paper in the discussion. The discussion
was attended by Dr. AMM Shawkat Ali, Adviser to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh on Food and
Disaster Management as Chief Guest and Chakma Circle Chief Barrister Raja Devasish Roy, Special
Assistant to the Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government in charge of the Ministry of CHT Affairs
and the Ministry of Environment and Forest as Special Guest.
more...
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ASK 2007 Adivasi Report (CHT+Flatlands)
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On March 25th, Ain Salish Kendra (ASK) released the 2007 Annual Human Rights Report. In the Chapter
on CHT Paharis and Flatland Adivasis, following 7 topics were covered. On March 27th, the CTG
announced a removal of the ban on mobile phones (item # 4).
more...
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Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
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Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) is an international human rights organisation with the aim to specifically
address those areas and populations of the world where severe and extensive human rights violations of certain ethnic,
religious, and linguistic minorities have taken place for long periods, and where structural help and global attention
of the international media have proven to be absent or insufficient.
more...
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Bangladesh-CHT American Buddhists Association sends letter to US Deptt of State on CHT famine
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Dear Madam,
With dueh umbles ubmissionw, e would like to put forwarda few wordst o drawy our kind attentiono n a faminel ike
situationa mong indigenousp opulationsli ving in remotea reaso f Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region of
Bangladesh whoa res tarvingto deathT. heyn eedf oods upplyd esperatetloy survivef romt hiss ituationim mediately
more...
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Opinion-exchange meeting held by Chief Advisor in Rangamati
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On 27 March 2008 an opinion-exchange meeting was held by Chief Advisor of Caretaker Government
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed with the government officials and people of different professional groups
of the region at Rangamati Tribal Cultural Institute auditorium in Rangamati.
more...
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Human Rights Report 2007 (GHRD)
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Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) is an international human rights organisation with the aim to specifically
address those areas and populations of the world where severe and extensive human rights violations of certain ethnic,
religious, and linguistic minorities have taken place for long periods, and where structural help and global attention
of the international media have proven to be absent or insufficient.
more...
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Jumma king’s government appointment gives tribes fresh hope
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The newly appointed three special assistants with the status of state minister were given
the portfolios with Chief of Chakma Tribe Barrister Raja Debashish Roy getting the charges
of the Ministries of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs and Environment and Forest.
more...
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Press conference held against land acquisition in Bandarban (Jan 2008)
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Leaders of the Committee for Protection of Land in Bandarban have called upon the government
to cancel the ongoing process of acquiring 9,560 acres of land for the purpose of expansion
of Ruma Garrison in Bandarban.
...more...
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The Army attacks Buddhism to facilitate illegal settlement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Jan 2008)
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On 25 January 2008, indigenous Jumma peoples are scheduled to hold a large religious gathering at Sarnath
Arannyo Kuthir, a Buddhist temple at Karallyachari in Khagrachari Hill district of the Chittagong Hill
Tracts (CHTs). The Bangladeshi authorities have banned the meeting. It is unclear if the meeting will
go ahead. As we upload this Weekly Review, the Deputy Commissioner of Khagrachari district is holding a
meeting with the local Jumma elders of Karallyachari to decide the fate of the religious gathering while
the Bangladesh army personnel have been seizing the bikes and other vehicles. But if the meeting takes
place it is likely that the government will use violence to suppress it.
...more...
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A Report by HWHRF on Illegal Land Grabbing in Maischari and Other Three Unions Under Khagrachari District
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A two-member fact finding team of the Hill Watch Human Rights Forum, a Dhaka-based Human Rights organisation,
in collaboration with the Committee for Protection of Land in Mahalchari, conducted an investigation into the
problem of recent land grabbing in four Unions (Maischari, Kiang-ghat, Kamalchari and Khagrachari Sadar No.1)
under Khagrachari district. The team members (we have deliberately chosen not to mention their identity for
fear of reprisals) spent 10 days from 19 to 28 November 2007 in the area interviewing the victims as well
as common villagers and visiting the lands grabbed by the settlers. The team members also have had the rare
opportunity of being witnesses to a land grabbing attempt by illegal settlers in one of the villages in Maischari.
...more...
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Survival International submits letter to Bangladesh government on CHT Peace Accord of 1997
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This Sunday will mark the tenth anniversary of the peace accord between the Bangladesh government and the Jumma tribal peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts – but the government has failed to implement almost every aspect of it.
Violence, land grabbing and intimidation have escalated in the Hill Tracts since the declaration of emergency rule in Bangladesh in January.
...more on Survival International website (html version)...
...letter to Bangladesh Government (PDF version)...
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Peaceful Demonstration in front of the High Commission of Bangladesh, London on 25th October 2007.
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A peaceful demonstration was carried out by Jumma Peoples Network in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in London on October 25th 2007, from 10 to 11 am. The event was to highlight the deteriorating situation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts & in particular rampant land-grabbing by settlers and military & false arrests of indigenous activists across the region.
...more (html version)...
...more (rtf version)...
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Election Commission draws up CHT Voter List: (OCT 2007)
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The present caretaker government in Bangladesh took power on 11 January 2007, and soon after, initiated reforms within the Election Commission by appointing new Election Commissioners. More recently, it brought into effect the Electoral Rolls Ordinance, 2007 (Ordinance 18 of 2007).
This ordinance enables the Election Commission to register voters for different electoral bodies, to register them with the assistance of computerised databases which will also have their photographs. By `electoral bodies' the Comission means the national Parliament, and local government bodies that are elected, such as Union Parishad, Upazilla Parishad, Zilla Parishad, and Municipal or City Corporation.
...more...
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Bangladeshi Jumma Buddhist monks demonstrated in Colombo against the human rights violations and land grabbing
WWW.Sinhala.Net (SEP 2007)
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[COLOMBO, SinhalaNet 2007.09.13 03:31AM] Bangladeshi Jumma Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the Bangladesh High Commission in Colombo yesterday (September 12th) and condemned what the monks say are human rights violations and land grabbing committed against themselves and other communities in Bangladesh.
The Jummas are indigenous people who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
...more...
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SRI LANKA: Bangladesh Hight Commision refuses to accept a memorandum submitted by Bangladeshi Buddhists Monks (SEP 2007)
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SRI LANKA: Bangladesh Hight Commision refuses to accept a memorandum submitted by Bangladeshi Buddhists Monks
See the the text of the memorandum here:
...more...
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AUSTRALIA: Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs sends letter to Acting High Commissioner for Bangladesh (SEP 2007)
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I and a number of other MPs on both sides of the Australian Parliament
have had prior contact with advocates for the Jumma / Chittagong Hill
Tract People. It was also valuable to attend an exhibition of artefacts
and photographs in the electorate of my colleague Bruce Baird and meet a
visiting dignitary, some years ago. In the interim I have had
correspondence with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer concerning
the Australian Scholarships designed for the indigenous population and
other matters.
...more...
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UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples on 12 September at its 61st session.(from Kapaeeng Watch)
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Background of the DRIP:
The United Nations recognised the deep and centuries-long discrimination that indigenous peoples and communities numbering about 400 million residing in more than 70 countries suffer from, particularly during the European colonial era and after, which saw many genocidal aggressions against them. In 1923, Haudenosaunee Chief Deskaheh traveled to Geneva to speak to the League of Nations and defend the right of his people to live under their own laws, on the own land and under their own faith. Even though he was not allowed to speak and returned home in 1924, his vision nourished the generations that followed.
...more...
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