Indigenous women throughout the world are the most discriminated and marginalized groups. They face discrimination not only based on sex but also based on their ethnicity. They face many kinds of challenges fulfilling their rights as human beings. Especially the indigenous women of developing countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia face the most vulnerability on the basis of gender discrimination.
For instance , if you are a woman from an indigenous community you will face discrimination for being a woman and being a woman of minority too. Indigenous women of Chittagong Hill Tracts living in Bangladesh are also no different. They face all the possible discriminations from the state. It is true that women from the mainstream face discrimination but what the indigenous women of CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) face are much worse. They are deprived from the basic human rights. For decades they have been facing subjugation, self determination struggle, no state recognition, inequality, gender discrimination and most importantly oppression by the mainstream Bengalis. Post-liberation in 1971, when the CHT self-government campaign began, hundreds of women were subjected to sexual violence and kidnapping.
A research, conducted by Kapaeeng Foundation in 2013, unearths that the causes behind sexual violence against indigenous women are the communal policy of the state, culture of impunity enjoyed by the culprits, prolonged procedure of legal prosecution and biased environment, lack of legal knowledge among the indigenous population, inexperience of indigenous peoples to continue the legal procedure, corruption and deregulation of the administration and law enforcement agencies trialing the cases of sexual violence, non-implementation of the CHT Accord, paucity of adequate legal and financial support to pursue the cases by the victims and their family members, failure to follow up and review of the cases, lack of security of the victim and victim’s family members, dearth of national human rights organization’s and women’s organization’s commitment to provide adequate support to trial the cases, etc.
The following is an outlook of violence against indigenous women of Bangladesh
A portion of migrated Bengali settlers in CHT make indigenous women fall prey to violence such as rape, murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Violence is usually executed by politically motivated settlers, hundreds of women were subjected to sexual violence and kidnapping.
On 12th June, 1996,Kalpana Chakma a female activist and her two brothers got abducted and were nowhere to be found.
22 December 2001, 5 Muslim settlers led by Mohammad Khokan, the son of Mohammad Motaleb Mistri, attacked Mrs. Hla Mra Ching Marma and gang raped her.
In 2006 Two muslim settlers attempted to rape Miss Samapudi Chakma at Rangamati.
On 8 September, 2006 Santosh Das raped a marma girl in Bangalhalia, Rajasthali under Rangamati district. On 23rd June, 2008 Ruma Chakma from Nalkhata, Baghaichari got raped by an unidentified settler. On February 2018 , two young indigenous Marma sisters were allegedly raped and assaulted by security forces in Rangamati Hill District.
On 23rd June, 2008 Ruma Chakma from Nalkhata, Baghaichari got raped by an unidentified settler. On 28th July, 2018 a 5th grader girl Kritika Tripura got raped at Dighinala, Khagrachari
On 24th September, 2020 , A gang of settlers broke into a Chakma family in Khagrachari and raped the daughter of the family and beat the victim’s mother.
On 23rd September, 2021, eight Bengali men beheaded a Chakma woman in Harikhola village of Teknaf after failing to molest her.
There are innumerable of cases like the above which never saw the consequences of justice. There are even cases where women never spoke the ferocity they have faced. They have remained silent only because they have not yet learned to speak up for their rights and kept their mouths shut to protect the honor of the family. This is the situation of indigenous women in Bangladesh. In most cases the victims aren’t allowed to seek justice rather they are forced to keep their mouth shut. No fruitful measures have been taken for those who are responsible for the exploitations. Due to which the victims get to live for the rest of their lives with those brutal experiences. But it is rarely seen that they have been allowed to survive because they have been killed after being sexually abused and families who have lost their mothers, daughters and sisters have never seen justice. Despite such brutality, the accused never faced any backlash which gives them a sense of entitlement of continuing the violence.
They face difficulties while accessing medical treatment and legal justice, certainly in upland areas, where they navigate a justice system which does not concede their rights as women and ethnic women as well. It is necessary indigenous women’s rights be focused on greater systematic way to uphold the security and morality of indigenous women.
Written by Saptorshi Dewan
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