In Brief: Bangladeshi monks call for demilitarization of CHT
| Publisher | IRIN |
| Publication Date | 12 May 2011 |
| Cite as | IRIN, In Brief: Bangladeshi monks call for demilitarization of CHT, 12 May 2011, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4dcd24ec1a.html [accessed 18 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
BANGKOK, 12 May 2011 (IRIN) - The Bangladesh Jumma Buddhist Forum has called for the demilitarization of Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in a statement addressed to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Bangkok.
"We are asking for the withdrawal of the 365 military camps, as promised in the 1997 Peace Accord, to end the human rights violations against the indigenous people," Dipayan Chakma, president of the Jumma Buddhists Forum, who presented the letter to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 12 May, told IRIN.
The displacement of tens of thousands of Jummas in the past 10 years, and the burning of more than 100 houses in the past month, as well as two Buddhist temples, has been perpetrated by Bengali settlers backed by the military, according to Chakma.
"The majority of human rights violations committed against indigenous peoples in the region [are] attributed to the extensive presence of security forces," said UN special rapporteur Lars-Anderson Baer in a study conducted in April.
Theme (s): Human Rights, Refugees/IDPs,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
