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The number of human rights violation incidents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts—comprising Rangamati, Khagrachhari, and Bandarban districts—dropped to 200 in 2024 from 240 in the previous year, according to a report by the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti.

The ‘Annual Report of 2024 on Human Rights Situation of CHT,’ published on Wednesday, however, revealed that the number of victims of rights violations more than tripled, rising from 1,933 in the previous year to 6,055 in the hill districts.

‘Although the number of incidents has decreased, the number of victims has risen, and the intensity of damages remains high, mostly due to arson attacks,’ explained PCJSS central committee member Dipayon Khisa. 

Among the 2024 rights violation incidents, 119 were committed by security forces, affecting 5,655 jhumiya people, including 5,000 from the Bawm community alone, the report said.

In total, 21 national minority people were killed—down from 26 in 2023—while 119 houses and shops were burnt and looted, and 2,314 acres of land were occupied by outsider companies, influential individuals, and Muslim settlers.

At least 12 incidents of sexual violence against jhumiya women and girls by Muslim settlers were reported in 2024, with 16 victims in total.

No one involved in these incidents, however, has been brought to justice or punished accordingly. 

The report said, ‘There has been no change in the overall delicate situation of the CHT in 2024. Rather, the situation, as a whole, has taken worse shape further.’  

It said that the main spirit of the student-led July-August mass uprising, which ended 15 years of Awami League rule on August 5, was to put an end to discriminatory practices and bring about reforms in the state system.

But, while the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government formed 11 reform commissions, as part of that state reform, the report added, ‘It is regrettable that in the case with the CHT, no change has been made in the state policy of anti-accord and anti-interest of the jhumiya people.’

The report also stated that, like previous governments, as well as during the time of the current government, suppressive and regressive measures, including atrocities against jhumiya people, illegal land occupations, evictions, and sectarian attacks with arson continue, resulting in national minority communities living in extreme uncertainty, fear, and insecurity.

Besides, no initiative has been undertaken towards implementation of the CHT Peace Accord signed between the then AL government and the PCJSS in 1997.  

On the contrary, the report added that in violation of the Hill District Council Act, chief executive officers were illegally appointed as administrators to the councils for a short period, and during the reorganisation of the Interim Hill District Councils, settlers from outside the CHT were appointed as members, directly violating the CHT Accord.

The dismissal of the much-discussed Kalpana Chakma disappearance case by a Rangamati court on April 23, 2024, after nearly 28 years, highlights the failure of the Rangamati administration and judiciary to trace Kalpana, and arrest the accused—army Lieutenant Ferdous and VDP members Nurul Haque and Saleh Ahmed—or ensure a proper trial, which the report described as ‘is nothing but an extreme example of the lack of justice prevailing in the CHT’.