Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107) - Bangladesh (Ratification: 1972)

Article 5 of the Convention. Collaboration and development. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the indigenous communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are given opportunities for the development of their own initiatives through the CHT Development Board (CHTDB), which is made up of representatives of the CHT Regional Council and of the three Hill District Councils (Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban). In addition, there is an advisory committee to the CHTDB composed of members of indigenous communities. The Committee notes from the official website of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs that, between 2016 and 2021, the CHTDB implemented projects for the construction of rural road infrastructure in the Hill Districts of Rangamati and Bandarban to improve socio-economic conditions in remote areas. The Committee requests the Government to provide examples of development initiatives that have been approved by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB), indicating how the indigenous populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts have collaborated and benefited from such initiatives. It also requests the Government to provide information on measures of development for indigenous communities living in the plains.

Article 15. Recruitment and conditions of work. The Committee notes from the Baseline Assessment of Skills and Employment of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Bangladesh, published by the ILO in 2017, that the large part of the indigenous and tribal population works in the informal economy, particularly in agriculture, where they are lower paid and carry out activities at high risk for their health. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that indigenous and tribal workers enjoy the labour protection afforded to all citizens, including information on the visits carried out by the labour inspection in the agricultural sector where the presence of indigenous and tribal workers is more prevalent. With respect to equal access to employment and conditions of work for members of indigenous communities, the Committee refers to its comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).

Articles 16 and 17. Vocational training. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there are three vocational training institutes in the capitals of the three Hill Districts. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken to ensure that indigenous persons have access to vocational training opportunities that meet their special needs, including examples of the training programs available to them.

Articles 19 and 20. Social security and health. The Committee notes that, under the 2015 National Social Security Strategy, there are three social assistance programs explicitly targeting the CHT population, namely: (i) allowance for beneficiaries in the CHT; (ii) food assistance in the CHT; and (iii) the Non-Bengali Rehabilitation. The Government adds that community clinics have been established in the three Hill Districts of Bandarban (83), Khagrachari (78) and Rangamati (96). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the three social assistance programs for populations in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas, indicating the number of persons who have been covered by these measures. It also requests the Government to continue to take measures to facilitate access to adequate health services for the indigenous populations covered by the Convention (both in the hills and in the plains).

Article 21. Education. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that ethnic communities have almost equal access to education at all levels like the rest of the national community. It notes that the Government’s 8th Five Year Plan July 2020 – June 2025 envisages the formulation of a national language policy to safeguard the languages of the CHT population as well as measures to ensure primary and secondary school for children of extremely poor families living in inaccessible areas of the CHT. The Committee notes from the 2017 Baseline Assessment of Skills and Employment of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Bangladesh that the literacy rate among the indigenous and tribal populations in the plains was 66.3 per cent, compared to 65.3 per cent in the hills. About a third of indigenous and tribal populations have completed primary level of education. This is slightly higher than the rural Bangladesh extent of 30 per cent. However, only 6.8 per cent of them could finish the secondary level of education as compared to more than a fourth of rural Bangladesh population. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results of the measures taken to ensure that members of indigenous communities living in the Chittagong Hill Tract Areas and of the plains have access to free education at all levels. It also requests the Government to provide updated statistical information on the school enrolment and completion rates among children belonging to indigenous communities, if possible disaggregated by gender.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comment in 2024.]