Human rights of minority groups slightly improves: Report

The human rights of the minority community has slightly improved in 2010 in the country due to some effective steps of the government, according to a recent human rights report.
The report said 2010 saw some improvement for minorities as members of minorities held several important positions of the government and some steps were taken towards controlling the curriculum of Madrasa.

Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) and Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) jointly prepared the report titled 'Human Rights Report 2010: Minorities in Bangladesh', which was released at Dhaka Reporters Unity Monday morning.
The report discussed key human rights issues and specific incidents of abuse against women and minorities during January to November 2010. Among them, 50 incidents were investigated.

The government is yet to publish its list of returnable property pursuant to the proposed Vested Property Return Act, aiming at returning occupied property to Hindus that was grabbed under the Enemy Property Act, the report said.

It found that despite the ruling party's election pledge to end all extra-judicial killings, torture and deaths at the hands of state authorities has persisted. In December the High Court reaffirmed the government's declared sediment that all extra-judicial killings must be brought to end.

The report said the government has failed to implement integral clauses of 1997 Chittagong Hill Tract Peace Accord, aiming at bring peace in the CHT. Land disputes and lack of protection of indigenous rights to land remain the main cause of conflict in the CHT.

The report said religious, ethnic and social minorities are facing various forms of discrimination and violence. It was observed that within minority groups, children and women are particularly vulnerable.

In 2010, GHRD and BIHR investigated violence perpetrated against mainly religious and ethnic minorities as well as Dalits (untouchable) and women.