Living without rights
THE recent (June 13) forced eviction of 74 families, including 56 indigenous families, from their ancestral land at Khatirpur Sondanga village in Chhaor union under Porsha upazila of Naogaon district, by local powerful and influential land grabbers clearly indicates the vulnerability of the indigenous people in this country. The houses of the indigenous people have been completely demolished by arsonists and armed attackers, which has forced people to live under the open sky without sufficient food and security while the criminals are moving scot-free in that particular locality.
This incident reminds us of the torture and murder of Alfred Soren at Bhimpur, Mahadebpur, Naogaon in 2001 and of the eviction from Borodal Village under Partibartipur, Dinajpur district in 2005. In all of these evictions, the indigenous people had been oppressed, tortured and displaced, and their basic fundamental rights had been undermined and violated.
As we know, the indigenous people of Bangladesh have their distinctive language, culture, heritage, religion, diverse traditions and customs as well as with their own lifestyle, and have been living harmoniously with Bangalees for a long time.
Indigenous people have been characterised as hard-core poor, marginalised, undeveloped, oppressed, illiterate, and vulnerable groups. This harsh reality was exposed by the eviction at Porsha in Naogaon, which proves that ethnic minorities are living without any rights as powerful and influential people snatch away their rights because the state mechanism cannot protect the indigenous people.
Because of he ambivalence of the state and different types of maltreatment by the powerful and influential, the illiterate and poor indigenous people become victims of deprivation and violation of human rights.
Even though it is stated in the Constitution of Bangladesh in Sections 27 and 28(1) that "all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law" and "the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth," the indigenous people are not granted their constitutional rights. Similarly, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), it has been clearly mentioned that no community should be discriminated on the grounds of caste and ethnicity.
Moreover, according to the customs and culture of indigenous people, the lands on which they have been living for a long time are their property. Under this circumstance, the occupation of indigenous lands by the government and influential people is a violation of international conventions, the ILO Convention (107 and 169) as well as of human rights.
The real fact is that the state and the influential people are frequently evicting indigenous people from their lands through falsification of land documents, forcible occupation, fake court cases, falsification during registration, and eviction from khas land in the name of eco-tourism park and social forestry.
The Porsha episode has also shown the ineffectiveness of the state and absence of law and order. The powerful local land grabbers who brought misery to the indigenous people should be given exemplary punishment, and the displaced people should be brought back to their ancestral lands to establish and protect the human rights of indigenous people.
The bottom line is that the indigenous people suffer the worst form of marginalisation in terms of religion, ethnicity and cultural identity due to poverty. In this regard, support and assistance from the government, development agencies, NGOs, human rights activists and rights-based organisations are needed in order to attain the rights of the indigenous people, with especial emphasis on equity, equality and social justice and legal entitlement on their ancestral and customary land rights.
Lawrence Besra is an independent Civic and Social Organisation professional.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments