Suhas Chakma, director of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), spoke out at the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, spotlighting racial violence against indigenous peoples in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts.
He shared a chilling recent incident: On September 28, Bangladesh Army troops killed three indigenous people in Guimara village. Relatives of the victims fear filing police reports due to threats, leaving justice out of reach.
Chakma pointed to last year’s horrors too. On September 19-20, illegal settlers and the army killed four indigenous individuals, wounded 75 others, and torched hundreds of homes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Yet the government hasn’t released any inquiry report, allowing those responsible to escape accountability.
The problems go deeper. Chakma noted that Bangladesh’s Constitutional Reforms Commission included no indigenous people or minorities. Its report completely ignores them, effectively erasing their rights under the law.
Education faces issues as well. On January 12, the National Curriculum Board scrubbed the word “Adivasi”—meaning indigenous or tribal—from a high school grammar textbook’s cover. When indigenous students protested in Dhaka on January 15, Islamic fundamentalists attacked them.
Chakma called on the UN Human Rights Council to act decisively against this racial discrimination in Bangladesh. His words echo concerns raised just days earlier at the same session. On September 26, UN-EU Human Rights Officer Charlotte Zehrer from Global Human Rights Defence urged immediate steps to protect ethnic and religious minorities.
Zehrer described a troubling rise in violence, with over 2,400 attacks on minorities in the past year. Indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, along with Hindus and Christians nationwide, bear the brunt of this discrimination.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
