Human Rights & Protection

Sundarban Adibasi Munda Sangastha (SAMS) works for documentation of major HR violations and advocacy to the related Government Organization (GO), Non-Government Organization (NGO) and private body to ensure justice. Sundarban Adibasi Munda Sangastha (SAMS) try to find out the problem of Munda community what is related Human Rights. For a long time SAMS is working with this community people.The Munda communities in Bangladesh are mostly resident in the South-West of the Country, in Khulna District and Satkhira District, at the limits of the Sundarban costal forest. They are considered tribal people, most of them are considered of Hindu religion, and however they maintain a specific ancient and rich cultural heritage, with their own language and traditions. Munda people originate from the Indian States of Ranchi, Jharkhand and West Bengal, India. They owned a special skill in forest clearing and earth movement works, such as pond digging and embankment construction, together with the capacity to live in extreme environmental conditions. For these reasons, during the British period, the landlords of the south-western regions brought them to today’s Bangladesh to cut the Sundarban to obtain agricultural land, to dig ponds to collect rainwater and make embankment to hamper the saline water from entering into the cultivable lands. They received the property of some land in the areas where they lived and worked, with the condition that people not belonging to the Munda communities were not allowed to buy Munda land. This law, aimed to protect their properties, was not observed and, with the time, almost all the Munda communities were deprived of their lands and become landless. Nowadays the Munda communities survive by traditional works in land digging, by farming other people’s land, fishing and collecting few resources from the challenging environment of the Sundarban mangrove forest. All the conditions of these communities are still much far away from the targets of reducing poverty, illiteracy and discrimination, individuated by UN as Millennium Development Goals. Munda community is suffering highly human rights violation society. They have no own land as they maximum live in khash land. They are always evacuated from their land by local godfathers. Most of the adolescence child is compelled to compromise early marriage. They have no leaders to move their society into improvement segment. So SAMS is trying to create some energetic and devoted leaders within the Munda community who lead their on society. SAMS organize training and consultation meeting to prepare advocate within the Leaders of Human rights.

Coordination Meeting with Local Government. Human rights and protection is the important part of SAMS at present time. SAMS is working about this issue at 4 Unions (Burigoalini, Munshigonj, Ishwaripur and Shyamnagar Sadar) under Shyamnagar Upazila. A project named Promoting Human Right of Ethnic and Dalit Women (PHRED) project is implemented funded by UKaid and supported by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) . Under this project we have total 2010 beneficiaries and 67 Ethnic People Organization (EPOs) and Dalit People Organization (DPOs) groups. The mail goal of this project is Strengthening Dalit & Ethnic human rights action for elimination of Caste Base Discrimination. Major Activities: A) About 67 EPOs/DPOs group formation. B) Organize 2010 Court Yard meeting C) Organize 4 batches training on violence against women and girls D) Organize 24 Coordination meeting with 4 LGs E) Organize 6 Linkage meeting with Upazila Administration F) Organize 6 linkage meeting with Forest & Coast Gourd G) Organize 12 linkage meeting with legal aid service providers H) Provide legal support for 67 women I) Preparing women database for 120 women J) Organize 4 linkage building with public service providers. K) Organize total 9 day observation on wider population aware on the Rights of Dalit and Ethnic people.