INCLUDING THE EXCLUDED:

Exploring Inequality and Human Rights Situations in Selected Regions of Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

By adopting the 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development the member states of the United Nations
committed to ensure equal rights for all people particularly for those who are struggling to fulfill
their basic needs and are deprived from human rights. The popular slogan the member states
adopted is known as “leave no one behind” to “endeavor to reach the furthest behind first”. To
fulfill this slogan various organizations are concerned to identify the most vulnerable and
marginalized groups across countries. Already five factors are proposed as key to understand who
is being left behind and why. The factors are: discrimination, place of residence, socio-economic
status, governance and vulnerability to shocks.

Like many other member countries of the United Nations, Bangladesh is also a place where we
can see two ongoing opposite pictures in terms of development. In one hand, GNP and per capita
income of the people of the country has been raised significantly for the last one decade. However,
on the other hand, many vulnerable and marginalized communities/ groups of the country are
struggling in their everyday lives to fulfill basic human rights. They are out of reach of all benefits
because of various reasons.

Considering the above fact, this project aims to explore the livelihood and challenges of three
communities who are discriminated due to their socio-economic status, isolated residence,
stigmatized occupations, and so on.

KEY QUESTIONS

Specifically, the project will investigate the following issues:

1. Why do those communities consider as marginalized or vulnerable (considering the keys)?

2. What are the defining characteristics of these groups who are being left behind -gender,
religion, ethnicity, income, geographic origin, rurality, age, disability?
3. What are the dimensions and degrees of exclusion – income and wealth; political
participation; access to services like healthcare, education, water and sanitation; legal
representation; the right to own property; and economic opportunities, including access to
productive assets, finance, and employment?
4. How do the people of those communities define their status and how do they delineate their
human rights issues?
 5. How are inequalities perpetuated through legal and normative structures and where are the
most promising areas for intervention?
6. What kind of challenges they face to fulfill their human rights and what are the
recommendations to overcome those challenges?

THEMATIC AREAS

Considering the above-mentioned issues, the project has selected three vulnerable communities.
The proposed research will comprise three thematic units based on the selected communities.

RESEARCH UNIT ONE: LIVELIHOOD AND CHALLENGES OF DALIT PEOPLE OF DHAKA CITY
First, it will explore the livelihood and challenges of Dalit people of Dhaka City who are known
as ‘untouchable’ in many parts of South Asia as well as in Bangladesh. They are involved with
various low paying jobs such as sweeping streets, cleaning toilets, mending shoes. This project
will only focus on Dalit people who are known as ‘methor’ (who cleans toilets and human waste).
Due to the nature of their job, they face discriminations at all levels of their lives. They face
unequal access to education, healthcare, housing and employment.

RESEARCH UNIT TWO: PACKING AND UNPACKING HUMAN RIGHTS: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF

KHALIAJURI IN HAOR AREAS
Khilajuri is a upazilla in Netrokona district where people are surrounded by the water for half of
the year. They don’t have enough access to basic rights nearby. Even they use boat go to school
and market. According to 2011 Bangladesh census, Khaliajuri had a population of 97,450. Males
constituted 51.10% of the population and females 48.90%. Khaliajuri had a literacy rate of 30.39%.
Therefore, people in that upazilla have been considered as marginalized people. However, this
project is interested to know how do the keys of human rights work for them? It explores their
understating of human rights and whether they can get access to the social security system offered
by the state. It also analysis how do they navigate the challenges of human rights issues.

RESEARCH UNIT THREE: SOCIAL JUSTICE, INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION: A STUDY ON THE
RIVER GYPSIES OF THE DELTA REGION IN BANGLADESH

The Manta people are the Semi-Nomadic occupational group in Bangladesh. There are over 30
sub-categories, based on occupational diversities, with Manta people of which the Bede, the snake
charmers, are popularly known to general people of Bangladesh. They are also known as ‘water
gypsy’ or ‘river gypsy’ because of their traditional livelihood pattern, which depends on travelling
through the waterways to earn their livelihood from different regions. The Manta people travel in
groups, live on boats and never stay in one place for long. The majority of them live on snake
related trading like snake charming, selling of snake protection amulets, snake catching, snake
selling, etc. Some of them are engaged in shamanistic healing and selling medicines. Sub-groups
of the Manta people are also in the entertainment services like monkey shows, magic shows, circus
show etc. These river gypsies are believed to have magical powers in rural areas. However, Due
to their nature of occupation and mobile livelihoods, the Manta people remains excluded from
accessing public services, and outside of development interventions. They are also subjected to
various forms of stigmatization and discrimination. The proposed research intends to explore the
human rights issues of the Manta people of the Delta region in Bangladesh.