Ethnic minorities and human rights activists of the country will observe the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples today.
This year the UN took ‘COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience’ as the theme for the celebration of the day and different ethnic minority organisations have chalked out separate programmes to mark the day.
Bangladesh Adibasi Forum took weeklong virtual programmes between August 7 and August 13 to celebrate the day.
The organisation will organise today cultural function, virtual discussion and light lamps to uphold the rights of the ethnic minorities of Bangladesh as well as of other countries.
In the programmes on Friday and Saturday, the organisation and a number of human rights activists demanded that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples should be observed nationally and financial incentives should be given to the marginalised ethnic minorities whose lives and livelihoods were affected due to COVID-19 outbreak.
The United Nations General Assembly on December 23, 1994, decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples shall be observed on August 9 every year.
The date marks the day of the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
