APWLD urged Bangladesh government to guard the safety of the indigenous women

Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) expressed their concern about the sexual assault on to Marma sisters and their abduction by the legal force officers. They also criticized assault on Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) protecting them.

“It is alarming that the government itself has chosen to attack the work of peaceful women human rights defenders while blatantly failing their obligation to protect the rights of human rights defenders and their family members’’ the press release pointed out.

The press release also included, “It is not an isolated incident of violence against indigenous women. In 2013, APWLD partner organization Kapaeeng Foundation documented 136 cases of sexual and other forms of violence perpetrated against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They found that 89% of perpetrators of sexual violence in the CHT were Bengali settlers and 4% were security personnel. Yet none of the cases filed at the courts resulted in a conviction to date.”

APWLD, together with the WHRD and their movements in Bangladesh, urged the Bangladesh government to investigate the case of sexual violence against the two Marma sisters, act to bring the perpetrators under justice and ensure the safety and security of the victims.

Source: Dhaka Tribune