Bangladesh: Experts, activists call for protection of indigenous rights amid rising violence

Dhaka, Aug 12 (IANS) Several experts and activists in Bangladesh have called for greater recognition and protection of indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge, land rights and cultural heritage, while raising concerns over increasing violence and repression against indigenous communities, particularly women, according to local media reports.

The observations were made during a discussion and cultural programme organised by the Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network and Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka on Tuesday to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2026.

Ujjwal Azim, programme manager at Kapaeeng Foundation–a prominent human rights organisation advocating for the rights of indigenous people in Bangladesh- warned that violence and repression against indigenous communities in both the hills and plains are on the rise, with women bearing the brunt of such abuses, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper The Daily Star reported.

He said the government had taken no steps towards the communities’ long-standing demand for a separate ministry, despite discussions about establishing a land directorate for indigenous communities in the plains.

Kathrina Kunig, deputy team leader of the Citizenship Project of the Civic Engagement Fund, underscored the importance of indigenous midwives’ traditional knowledge, which has been passed down through generations but remains largely unrecognised.

“Civil society organisations should help promote, preserve and disseminate such knowledge and support indigenous peoples’ rights,” she said.

Emphasising that indigenous peoples’ lives and cultures are closely linked to land, Banasree Mitra Neogi, director of Rights and Governance at Manusher Jonno Foundation, said, “We all need to continue the struggle to ensure their land rights. Everyone who believes in equality is connected to this struggle.”

She noted that while the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees equality and dignity for women, the state has taken no visible steps to ensure their effective implementation.

Flora Bably Talang, vice president of Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network and chair of the event, said that indigenous peoples’ culture and traditional knowledge remained unrecognised by the state. She stressed the need for the recognition of human, land and traditional knowledge rights of the indigenous communities.

Earlier this week, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum called on the government to take concrete measures to safeguard the constitutional, cultural, land and legal rights of the country’s indigenous communities, warning that many groups in the hills and plains now face serious threats to their very existence, Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.

The forum said that 55 years after independence, indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) continue to face land dispossession, while their human rights are being violated daily under “military rule and state oppression”.

–IANS

scor/rs