Rising violence against them negates Liberation War spirit
Increasing violence against women of ethnic minorities is tantamount to disregarding the fundamental spirit of the country's Liberation War, human rights activist Sultana Kamal said yesterday.
Impunity to the perpetrators of such violence has made the victims even more vulnerable, she said.
Addressing the launch of a report on ethnic minority women, Sultana Kamal called for full implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord to prevent violence against them.
Kapaeeng Foundation and Bangladesh Indigenous Women Network, with support from Manusher Jonnno Foundation (MJF), organised the launching ceremony of "Annual Situation Report 2015 on Indigenous Women in Bangladesh" at The Daily Star Centre.
According to the report, between 2007 and 2015, a total of 434 minority ethnic women and girls were subjected to physical and sexual violence with no single instance of justice done.
In 2015 alone, 38 out of 69 incidents of violence occurred in CHT.
Violence against ethnic minority women is used as a strong tool to displace the minority communities from their ancestral homes, said Prof Sadeka Halim, former information commissioner.
MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam said violence against women was used as a tool to serve certain agenda in the hill tracts. Though it was envisioned in the constitution, a country free of discrimination still remains a dream for the ethnic minorities.
These women, who are denied justice in many incidents, are getting more marginalised, she said.
Child marriage, poverty, insecurity and dowry play as barriers against these women's educational empowerment, showed the report, while the women living in remote areas lack healthcare benefits in areas of maternal, antenatal and child care.
It said ethnic minority women in coastal areas were one of the most vulnerable sections of the population, who fall victim to land grabbing, environmental catastrophes, and climate change impacts.
Despite improvements reflected in the global Gender Development Index (GDI), no tangible change took place in the lives of women, particularly for the women from ethnic minorities, found the report. The National Women Development Policy of 2011 speaks very little of ethnic minority women, it said.
Prof Obaidul Haque of international relations at Dhaka University and Executive Director of Achik Michik Society Sulekha Mrong, among others, also spoke at the event, chaired by Kapaeeng Foundation Executive Director Pallab Chakma.
Comments