Ethnic minority leaders attend a dialogue organised by the Indigenous Peoples Development Services in association with UNDP at the YWCA Conference Hall in Dhaka on Wednesday. — New Age photo
Ethnic minority rights activists, lawmakers and representatives of ethnic minority workers said at a dialogue on Wednesday that an indigenous policy was needed to end discrimination against ethnic minorities.
They said that the policy was needed for streamlining segregated government efforts for improving the life of ethnic minorities.
The segregated initiatives taken by the state over the years hardly made a difference in life of about 4 million ethnic minorities caught in a vicious cycle of discrimination, deprivation and repression, they said.
‘An indigenous policy is necessary and the elements needed for formulating the policy are existent in many government documents,’ said Professor Mesbah Kamal, also a member of the parliamentary caucus on indigenous affairs.
The dialogue was organised by Indigenous Peoples Development Services with support from United Nation Development Programme at YWCA conference hall in the capital.
IPDS president Sanjeeb Drong presented the concept note providing the rationale for raising the demand and an outline of the proposed policy.
While placing the demand, quoting the 7th five year plan, Sanjeeb said, ‘The ethnic communities in Bangladesh are the most deprived of economic, social, cultural and political rights, mainly due to their ethnic status.’
‘Ethnic identities are creating barriers to ethnic minority people’s inclusion in wider social networks,’ Sanjeeb continued.
Sanjeeb also referred to the 7th five year plan recognising that policies for protecting land owned by ethnic people were inadequate.
He reminded the government of its unmet pledge made in election manifestoes released on the occasions of 2008 and 2018 elections to formulate land commission for settling dispute in the plain and set up a minority commission.
He cited policies from India and the Philippines to give his rationale for an indigenous policy.
The indigenous policy should address, among 12 other issues, right to self-determination, right to land, forest and natural resources, language and culture, education and environment and climate change.
‘It seems we are moving backwards. It seems there is no end to eviction of indigenous people, their repression and rape of their women,’ said lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, the founder member of the parliamentary caucus on indigenous affairs.
Menon, attending the dialogue virtually, said that the conditions in which ethnic minorities lived nowadays were far worse compared to 1980s and 1990s.
Lawmaker Aroma Dutta said that the policy was needed to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks.
National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh chairman Nasima Begum, UNDP chief technical adviser Andrew Macgregor, and ILO national programme coordinator Alexius Chicham participated in the dialogue, among others.
