URGENT APPEAL: Protect the Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh: Implement the Peace Accord now!

JOINT URGENT APPEAL FROM GHRD, KAPAENG FOUNDATION, JUMMA PEOPLES NETWORK UK

To: the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dhaka, the Office of the Prime Minister, London and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague.

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals are joining forces to urge the Government of Bangladesh to keep its promise to protect its indigenous peoples, and implement the CHT Peace Accord before the next general elections in 2014.

Background
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed in Bangladesh in 1997 to promote peace and to protect its indigenous population. Today, almost 15 years later, it remains unfulfilled and violence against the indigenous peoples has continued.

Bangladesh has ratified numerous international human rights treaties and it is also the largest provider of UN Peacekeepers in the world. Despite this, it continues to violate the rights of minorities and its indigenous peoples. The indigenous people, known as Jumma in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), have been under attack for over 35 years, ever since the Government brought in large numbers of Bengali settlers onto their ancestral land. Influential settlers – supported by the military who are heavily deployed in the region – have been attacking the indigenous peoples who have lost their lands at an alarming rate and have endured endless human rights violations ever since.

The protection of indigenous peoples and the implementation of the 1997 Peace Accord was one of the key election pledges of the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. Unfortunately, at the end of her mandate, it remains unfulfilled.

We note with concern how violence against indigenous communities in the CHT has been escalating in recent months.

We are disturbed that this Government has rather taken regressive steps that work against the essence of the Accord, including publicly denying that there is an indigenous population in Bangladesh, refusal of giving constitutional recognition to indigenous groups and also recently demanding its district officials to take action against the celebration of World Indigenous Day.

Therefore, we urge Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to take immediate and urgent action to fulfill her election promise and fully implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord within this tenure, to ensure the protection of Jumma lives, land, identity and culture.

In particular:
• Dismantle all temporary military camps in the CHT and demilitarize the region according to the Accord.

• Investigate and publicise all allegations of human rights violations against the indigenous peoples by the security forces.

• Solve the land disputes fairly; amend the Land Dispute Settlement Commission Act of 2001 according to the spirit of the Accord.

• Give constitutional recognition to the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh.
With the elections coming up in Bangladesh, there is a great fear that the CHT Peace Accord will remain unimplemented and that the situation will only worsen in the future, threatening the peace and existence of the indigenous peoples in Bangladesh!

Our call will be delivered to Governments in three countries on World Indigenous Day, August 9, in Dhaka, London and the Netherlands.

Yours Sincerely,

Global Human Rights Defence (The Netherlands)

Jumma Peoples Network (UK)

Kapaeeng Foundation (Bangladesh)

Hana Shams Ahmed, writer and activist

Join our shared efforts in protecting the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Take action today and sign our petition here! http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_the_Indigenous_People_in_Bangladesh/?cUXFhdb]

For further information regarding the Chittagong Hill Tracts, see following web pages:

JUMMA PEOPLES NETWORK UK                                 

A time for reflection

Another year has passed. It is a good time for reflection – if one find time in between the season evaluations, newsletters, annual reports, cleaning…out of a sudden the entire year must be wrapped up in one package! What a year it was. Trying to determine the highlights and set backs is not easy.

I appreciate the meetings with the incredible Bhutanese families that were evicted from their homeland, some tortured and imprisoned, and then lived seventeen years in refugee camps before being sent to a country they never heard of. I remember their hospitality and kindness, their gratefulness for being given the chance to start a new life, but also their despair for the loved ones that were left behind.

I remember the excitement at the birth of the FLARE network at the European Parliament in Brussels. The feeling of success and being invincible when we walked together with almost 100,000 others in Bari, Italy taking stand against the mafia.

I recall anger and frustration when a certain ambassador claimed that no- one is being tortured in Bangladesh. I remember the excitement of taking part of history when former prime minister Sheik Hasina entered the House of Lords after almost a year in captivity.

It hurts to think of the pain in the eyes of the families who lost everything, whose child committed suicide after a brutal gang rape and left with no assistance, the human rights defenders who risked their life to report about them, and the frustration I felt so many times that we could not do more to help them in their struggle!

But I can also smile looking back on how 50 children, newly arrived from conflict zones all over the world, were singing and jumping up and down of excitement to meet Sinterklaas and receive their presents!

2008 was the year of survival for GHRD. It was a constant battle to continue achieving results, with no resources. 2009 is the year where we finally have the opportunity to grow, expand our networks and strengthen our capacities.

The year of 2009 will be an important one in GHRDs history. I want to do more, do better. There is enough to do. I am looking forward to share it with you!

Lord Voldemort of Bangladesh

I went to Brussels and the European Parliament last week to take part in an informal hearing about the human rights situation in Bangladesh. The situation is alarming - more the 25.000 people were arbitrary arrested over the past two weeks.

Approximately half a million people have been arrested in Bangladesh since the proclamation of state of emergency 16 months ago. Most of them are political opponents; many will be tortured into accordance by the military regime.

Those who were able have gone into hiding; or maybe they ‘disappeared,’ or mysteriously died from ‘heart problems’ after days of torture. Others are simply shot in the back, with the official explanation that they ‘attempted to escape’.

As expected, the present representative of the Bangladeshi Embassy denied any governmental involvement in human rights abuse. The ambassador was ‘surprised to hear that the human rights situation is bad in Bangladesh’ he claimed the Bangladeshi human rights record have ‘always been good’, and; ‘no-one is being arrested without reason in Bangladesh’.

In reality, state security forces can arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals without warrant or evidence[1]; in fact, they can 'produce' evidence through the use of force. Soldiers and police responsible for torture and killings enjoy impunity.

Journalists and human rights activists that are brave enough to report about the abuse become targets themselves. Ahmed Swapan, a torture victim and exiled Bangladeshi journalist said; ‘I am afraid to speak here today. I am one of those whose right hand still is dysfunctional because of my reporting in Bangladesh.’ The torture of Tasneem Khalil, who reported to, amongst others, CNN and Human Rights Watch, made it to the international press last year. If they beat a journalist who is working for a distinguished media and human rights organisation unconscious with batons – what will they do to others who have less chance of getting their story out?

“In Bangladesh, they have their own Lord Voldemort – the DGFI. They
are so feared that people don’t even dare mentioning its name,”

William Sloan (International Association of Democratic Lawyers), during his last visit to Bangladesh, was held up and interrogated at the airport, cautioned by the DGFI[2], barred from the courtroom where Sheikh Hasina was on trial, interdicted from holding a press conference, confined in his hotel room for ten hours, and escorted to the airport by police and detained until boarding time. “In Bangladesh, they have their own Lord Voldemort – the DGFI. They are so feared that people don’t even dare mentioning its name,” he said, making a reference to the Dark Lord in the Harry Potter books.

Indeed, over the year we have seen a mobilisation of dark forces in Bangladesh. Terror, torture and intimidation are the main tools used by the military government to maintain power. However, whereas Lord Voldemort made no secret of his intention of dictatorial rule, the Bangladeshi government is still attempting to hide behind a democratic façade and maintain its international reputation.

Perhaps it is time to stop allowing the military regime in Bangladesh to hide behind the term ‘caretaker government,’ and instead start calling it what it is: a military regime. Because, as the Harry Potter fans will know; fear of a name only creates fear of the phenomenon itself.

[1] Emergency Powers Rules, Section 16 & 20, EPR 2007
[2] Directorate General of Forces Intelligence; one of the main Bangladeshi intelligence services

The power and downfall of the masses

GHRD participated in another FLARE meeting last week, this time in Bari, southern Italy. I had the privilege to meet and listen to Mr Luigi Ciotti, president of Libera, the largest network against the mafia in Italy. For obvious reasons, this man is most wanted and he has miraculously survived years of assassination attempts. When this honorable man sat down in front of me, turned around and shook my hand, for a moment, I felt afraid. A pathetic thought crossed my mind; what if someone will attack him now, when I am behind him? In the next second, I felt a strong wave of guilt. What a coward! There are people willing to sacrifice their lives for something they believe in, and then you are afraid to even sit behind one of them? What kind of human rights defender are you? Well obviously, a human rights officer, with emphasis on office. I felt pathetic.

Then, luckily, I gained some strength again when taking part in a huge demonstration against the mafia. It felt powerful and important to walk there in the burning sun, shouting “FREEDOM LEGALITY AND RIGHTS IN EUROPE” amongst 100,000 people, all brought together around one common goal; to speak out against corruption and organized crime. There is something extraordinary about public manifestations where thousands of strangers with different background, age, gender, nationality and religion have taken a standpoint about something that matters to them, and then unite to express this position.

Tragically, another protest was brutally smashed down at almost the same moment. Dozens of innocent Tibetians are feared dead, many are arrested and likely to be tortured or ‘disappear’ - simply because they claimed their right to peaceful demonstration. My thoughts are in Tibet today.

It’s safe being a ‘human rights officer’ in The Hague.