voi ees FOR PE-Ace,-United Nations Human Rights Council Forum on Minority Issues Ninth session, 24-25 November 2016 Agenda - OM ran ov • gra203175051 Statement by: John Tripura Kapaeeng Foundation www.kapaeeng.org E-mail: tripurajohn@gmail.com and kapaeeng.foundation@gmail.com Honourable Chairperson, distinguished delegates, indigenous and minority representatives, The failure to fully implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord that was signed between the indigenous Jumma peoples and Government of Bangladesh in 1997 for resolving CHT crisis through political and peaceful means has led to continue sufferings of internally displaced families and India-returnee refugees of Jumma peoples in the CHT who were the innocent victims of government atrocities and humanitarian crises in 1980s and 90s. It is to be mentioned that during the armed conflict between the then guerrillas of Jumma peoples and the goverment troops in 1980s-90s, at least twelve massacres upon the Jumma peoples were committed by Bangladesh military forces and Bengali Muslim settlers who were settled down in the land of the indigenous Jumma peoples, of CHT in 1980s bringing them from plain lands by the government. As a result, around 100,000 families of indigenous Jumma peoples fled to the deep forest within the CHT who are regarded as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and around 15,000 families fled to the neighbounring Indian State of Tripura for shelter who are regarded as international refugee. The CHT Accord stipulates to rehabilitate both IDPs and India-returnee refugees with returning their lands and homesteads back which were occupied by Bengali Muslim settlers with the assistance of government machineries. However, though 19 years have passed after signing of CHT Accord, no IDPs have been rehabilitated so far. At present, identification and rehabilitation process of IDPs remains in standstill situation, due to controversy government's initiative to rehabilitate Bengali settlers in CHT identifying them as IDPs which is contradictory to the provisions of the CHT Accord. Since illegal settlement of the Bengali Muslim families in the land of the Jumma peoples in CHT in 1980s, they have been regularly receiving food grains as monthly rations. On the others, indigenous Jumma IDPs who were uprooted from their ancestral lands due to massive communal attacks by the settlers continue to be deprived of receiving any humanitarian assistance from government or any other national and international humanitarian actor. It can be described that the perpetrators continue to availing government benefit fully for almost three decades, while the YI5