Bangladesh government orders media ban on word ‘Indigenous’

The government of Bangladesh has ordered the media to avoid using the word "Indigenous" during their coverage of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Bangladesh is home to more than 54 Indigenous peoples. They speak more than 35 languages and have distinct cultural identities. Yet, they are collectively referred to as "Adibashis". The government has been trying to censor the word for several years, insisting there are no such groups in the country. To this day, Bangladesh has not adopted the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the land rights of Indigenous communities in this country remain one of the most contentious and unresolved issues.

Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury reports from Madhupur, Bangladesh.

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