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Note: HRCBM has recently received this report from Global IDP project of
Norwegian Refugee Council regarding forced Internal displacement in
Bangladesh and furnished here for your kind perusal and appropriate action.
For the complete Report, please visit
http://www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/IdpProjectDb/idpSurvey.nsf/wCountries/Bangladesh
1 December 2003
Bangladesh: land disputes perpetuate
internal displacement
More than 500,000 people
may be internally displaced in Bangladesh due to conflict over land and
religious persecution. The majority (estimates range between 60,000 to 500,000)
remains displaced in the aftermath of a 25-year long armed conflict in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeastern part of Bangladesh. The conflict was
provoked by government polices to forcibly settle Muslim populations from
elsewhere in Bangla-desh on land traditionally belonging to tribal groups. It
formally ended in 1997 with the signing of a peace agreement which granted the
Chittagong Hill Tracts a higher degree of self-governance. The peace agreement
was contested from both the tribal and Bengali population in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. The election of the right-wing Bangladesh Na-tional Party in October
2001 has put the agreement on hold, as the new government feels it erodes
Bangladeshi sovereignty. This has prompted new violence and disrupted the
reintegration of those displaced. The election of the BNP also triggered further
dis-placement as a wave of post-election violence led to Islamic fundamentalist
groups forc-ing out up to 200,000 Hindus and other minority groups. According to
one estimate, 20,000 remain internally displaced today.
Information about people displaced by conflict in Bangladesh is virtually
non-existent. However, violence against minorities in Bangladesh is reportedly
on the rise, increasing the potential for further displacement. The specific
needs of the internally displaced can only be properly addressed if the UN,
NGOs, and the donor community in Bangladesh start to monitor
IDP situations in a more
comprehensive manner.
Displacement of minorities following October 2001 elections
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated
countries in the world. The population is overwhelmingly Muslim, with a minority
population making up 12.5 percent of its 130 million people according to a 1991
census. But throughout its short history, Bangla-desh’s minority population has
been steadily diminishing as repressive poli-cies have forced many people to
leave. This is particularly true for the Hindu minority, many of whom have
emigrated to India. At the time of the partition of India in 1947 Hindus made up
25 per cent of the population; today they count for less than 10 per cent.
Hindus lost a large part of their lands during the com-munal riots in 1947, and
continued to do so as a result of land reforms while the territory formed part
of Pakistan (1947-1971). According to a local NGO, 30 percent of Hindu
households have been affected by a Vested Property Act which functioned as a
tool to dispossess and displace Hindus. The Act was only abol-ished under the
former Awami League Government (Rehman, May 2003, HRF 12 December 2001, SATP
2003).
National elections on 1 October 2001 brought a massive victory to the
Bangla-desh Nationalist Party (BNP). In the af-termath of the elections, its
supporters attacked Hindus and other religious mi-norities who traditionally
have been supporters of the defeated government party, the Awami League and
other op-position parties. Violence and threats, especially in rural areas,
forced up to 200,000 people to flee (USCR 2003). There are no reliable estimates
of the number remaining displaced today, al-though one source states a figure of
20,000 persons (USCR 2003; RI August 2003). Anecdotal information about dis-placement
of minority groups from vil-lages, as well as reports of continued and
systematic intimidation and human rights violations, suggest that minorities
continue to be displaced (ALRC 10 March 2003; SATP Assessment 2003). However, no
information has been found about their present conditions.
Conflict background and causes of displacement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Due to the high population density and scarcity of
land in Bangladesh, conflict often erupts between Bengali settlers and tribal
groups who claim the right to their ancestral homeland. The settlers' issue has
spawned numerous ethnic conflicts, most notably in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
This has long been a problematic region of Bangladesh, firstly because of its
strategic location between India and Burma and secondly because of its unique
topography of thick forest (BBC 8 August 2003, Feeny 2001).
Prior to the creation of Bangladesh as a state in 1971, the population in the
CHT was mainly composed of 13 different indigenous ethnic groups. These people
differ from the rest of the Bangladesh population with regard to religion,
cul-ture and social customs. Until the 1960s, they were subjected to little
interference from the central rulers. Since the early 1970s, pursuing an agenda
of Bengali hegemony and provoked by autonomy demands from the indigenous
popula-tions, the government started a campaign to gain control of the CHT by
deploying a large number of troops and changing the ethnic composition. Local
indige-nous populations were forcefully evicted from their land to make way for
landless and poor peasant Muslim Bengalis from the delta region. This policy led
to the creation of an armed indigenous insur-gent group, Shanti Bahini, and the
start of a 25-year civil war.
The government responded by forcefully accelerated its strategy of "Bengalizing"
the CHT. In addition to a fast growing military presence in the region, Bengali
settlers were also mobilized against the indigenous population. In addition to
being forced off their land, the conflict itself, and the military atrocities
which came with it, became a major cause for the displacement of indigenous
groups. The affected populations sought refuge in neighbouring villages, urban
areas or took refuge in the areas of dense forest. Tens of thousands also became
refugees in the neighbouring Indian state of Tri-pura.
A peace agreement came into effect in December 1997, signed between the then
ruling Awami League and the main in-digenous political party, PCJSS (AI February
2000). The agreement brought some stability to the region, although indigenous
groups expressed frustration over the slow pace of its implementa-tion. National
elections in October 2001 created new insecurity because the victo-rious BNP
views the 1997 peace accord as a loss of Bangladeshi sovereignty. The BNP has
since halted implementa-tion of remaining provisions of the ac-cord, prompting
violence in 2002 between tribal groups and security forces. Open disagreement
has also emerged between tribal factions that supported the peace agreement (primar-ily
the PCJSS) and those that opposed it (particularly the United People’s De-mocratic
Front) (USCR 2003, SATP 2003).
Recently, tensions have re-emerged be-cause of government decisions which are
seen to favour Bengali settlers over the indigenous population. From July 2003,
the government ceased the provision of rice rations to 65,000 tribal internally
displaced persons, while continuing sup-plies to 26,000 Bengali settlers in
vil-lages near the Indian border. In another development, indigenous interest
groups have protested against the government's decision to permanently settle
more than 20,000 Bengali families in the CHT (OneWorld.Com, 20 October 2003). On
26 August violent clashes erupted be-tween the indigenous population and Bengali
settlers, reportedly displacing 1,500 indigenous people (COE-DMHA, 5 September
2003).
IDP figures in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
During the conflict period, the demogra-phy of the
CHT changed drastically: from constituting only 9 percent of the population in
1947, the non-tribal per-centage increased to 45 percent in the 1991 census (Sen
1998, p140). Informa-tion about the displacement of the in-digenous population
varies. Amnesty International has reported that more than 50 percent of the
indigenous population fled the armed conflict (AI 2000, section 1), USCR
estimates that some 64,000 indigenous people sought refuge in India while more
than 60,000 others became internally displaced (USCR 2003).
The government task force created to supervise the rehabilitation process
compiled in 2000 a list of around 128,364 internally displaced families (around
500,000 persons): 90,208 in-digenous and 38,156 Bengali settler families (CHTC
2000, p 48). It should however be noted that it is unclear whether the
government task force fig-ure refers to families or individuals. The figure has
been used somewhat arbitrar-ily and the Global IDP Project has so far not
succeeded in obtaining a confirma-tion regarding the actual number of in-ternally
displaced. The inclusion of settlers is also a controversial issue and opposed
by representatives of the in-digenous population. PCJSS, for exam-ple, does not
consider non-tribal people internally displaced and demands that they be
relocated outside the CHT (RAWOO 2000). There are no recent reports of
reintegration or rehabilitation of the internally displaced population. It is
therefore probable that the number of displaced remains fairly stable.
Return and reintegration
The peace agreement paved the way for the return of
the indigenous populations who had sought refuge in India, but did not resolve
the problem of internal dis-placement in the CHT. The land issue remains at the
core of the current prob-lems. While property rights of the tribal population
have been regulated by local traditions and not registered in public records,
the Bengali settlers obtained official documents certifying their own-ership of
the land.
Not surprisingly, many Bengali settlers, backed by the military and the main
op-position party in Bangladesh, have re-fused to give up the land to the
returning indigenous people. Based on available figures, it may be suggested
that about 30,000 returning refugees have not been able to regain possession of
their land – thus placing them in a situation of inter-nal displacement upon
return to the CHT (AI February 2000, section 5.2). How-ever, in accordance with
the peace ac-cord, some Bengali settlers have lost their ownership rights to
land belonging to returning indigenous refugees. Many Bengali settlers have
therefore been re-quired to relocate several times during recent years, and in
some cases made landless.
While at least half of the refugees got their land back upon return from India,
the large majority of the internally dis-placed are waiting for their case to be
solved by a land commission that was created as part of the Peace Accord. The
land situation for many of the internally displaced has therefore not changed
sig-nificantly since the civil war ended in 1997.
Humanitarian Access
Although the peace accord caught the attention of
the international community, the presence of international actors on the ground
is limited – updated informa-tion about the situation in the CHT is thus scarce.
Anecdotal information indi-cates that many of the internally dis-placed remain
scattered in the remote and inhospitable hill and forest areas with limited
livelihood and poor access to health care facilities. It has been re-ported that
the civil war left a large amount of small arms in the CHT and that crime and
social disintegration, in-cluding drug abuse, is an increasing problem among
tribal youth (Feeny Oc-tober 2001). Humanitarian access has improved over the
last few years, al-though the region was once again closed off after the upsurge
of violence in Au-gust 2003. As the only humanitarian or-ganisation being
allowed to operate, the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society deliv-ered assistance to
the displaced popula-tion (IFRC 5 November 2003). The European Union and several
other donor governments have made implementation of the peace agreement a
condition for funding of development programmes in the region. Apart from the
land question, other parts of the peace agreement re-main to be implemented, the
most seri-ous being that most of the temporary army bases have not been closed
down.
Information about people displaced by conflict in Bangladesh is virtually
non-existent and the issue has seemingly not been raised by the international
commu-nity in Bangladesh. The specific protec-tion needs of the internally
displaced can only be properly addressed if the UN, NGOs, and the donor
community in Bangladesh start to monitor IDP situa-tions in a more comprehensive
manner in the future.
For further information about displacement due to natural
disasters, consult Reliefweb at www.reliefweb.org.
On forced evictions, see the web site of COHRE: www.cohre.org, or the Asian
Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR): www.achr.net.
Sources:
Amnesty International (AI), February 2000, Bangladesh - Human
Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - AI ref: ASA 13.01.00 [Internet]
Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC), 10 March 2003, Written statement to the
Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/92) [Internet]
BBC News, 8 August 2003, "Bangladesh tribes protest against settlers" [Internet]
Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance (COE-DMHA),
4 September 2003, "Over 1,500 indigenous people displaced by ethnic violence in
Bangladesh's southeastern Khagrachhari district", Asia-Pacific Daily Report
[Internet]
Feeny, Thomas, October 2001, The Fragility of Peace in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts, Bangladesh - in Forced Migration Review [Internet]
International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), 5 November 2003, Programme
Update, Ap-peal no. 01.53/2003 [Internet]
Netherlands Devlopment Assistance Research Council (RAWOO), , May 2000,
"Mobilizing Knowledge for Post-Conflict Management and Development at the Local
Level", Advisory report, Publication no. 19 [Internet]
OneWorld.com, 20 October 2003, "Bangladesh Hills Rumble with Discontent"
[Internet]
Refugees International, 8 August 2003, Bangladesh: Discrimination and
Displacement of Reli-gious Minorities [Internet]
Rehman, I.E., 5 May 2003, Minorities in South Asia , for the Sub-Commission on
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Working Group on Minorities
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2003/WP.13) [Internet]
South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), November 2003, Bangladesh assessment 2003
[Inter-net]
Note: The complete list of sources used for the country profile is available on
our website.
About the Global IDP Project
The Global IDP Project, established by the Norwegian Refugee Council in 1998 at
the request of the United Nations, is the leading international body monitoring
internal dis-placement worldwide.
Through its work, the Geneva-based Project contributes to protecting and
assisting the 25 million people around the globe, who have been displaced within
their own country as a result of conflicts or human rights violations.
The Global IDP Project runs an online database providing comprehensive and
frequently updated information and analysis on internal displacement in over 50
countries.
It also carries out training activities to enhance the capacity of local actors
to respond to the needs of internally displaced people. In addition, the Project
actively advocates for durable solutions to the plight of the internally
displaced in line with international stan-dards.
For more information, visit the Global IDP Project website at www.idpproject.org
Global IDP Project
Norwegian Refugee Council
Chemin Moїse-Duboule, 59
CH-1209 Geneva, Switzerland
www.idpproject.org
Tel: +41 (0) 22 799 0703
Fax: +41 (0) 22 799 0701