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ILC's National Engagement Strategy
NES Promoting people centred land governance
BANGLADESH
International Land Coalition Secretariat at IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 , 00142 - Rome, Italy
tel. +39 06 5459 2445 fax +39 06 5459 3445 [email protected] | www.landcoalition.org
ILC Mission
A global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to
promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men.
ILC Vision
Secure and equitable access to and control over land reduces poverty and contributes to
identity, dignity, and inclusion.
Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD)
Contact: Shamsul Huda, Executive Director
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.alrd.org
Association For Realization Of Basic Needs (ARBN)
Website: www.facebook.com/mis.arban.org
Community Development Association (CDA)
Contact: Mr. Eko Cahyono
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.cdamyanmar.org
The contents of this work may be freely reproduced, translated, and distributed provided that
attribution is given to the International Land Coalition, and the article’s authors and organisation.
Unless otherwise noted, this work may not be utilised for commercial purposes.
For more information, please contact [email protected]
or go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0
Edited by David Wilson. Design by Federico Pinci.
Printed on recycled/FSC paper.
ILC is a membership-based network, opinions expressed in this document are the result of
a national multi-stakeholder process and therefore its contents can in no way be taken to
refl ect the offi cial views and/or position of ILC, its members or donors. The ILC Secretariat
would appreciate receiving copies of any publication using this study as a source at
ISBN: 978-92-95105-11-9
ILC wishes to thank the following donors, whose support made this research possible:
The National Engagement Strategies
The concept: what is a NES?In recent years, equitable access to land, particularly in rural areas, has been high on the
international policy agenda and is recognised as a crucial element attributing to sustainable
development and poverty reduction. Innovative and progressive land policies and laws,
particularly at the national level, are key to determining equitable access to, use of, and
control over land and other natural resources.
The National Engagement Strategy (NES) is the first step of an approach being promoted by
the International Land Coalition at country level, in order to create conditions for inclusive and people-centred land-related policy change. Jointly formulated and co-owned by
ILC members and other relevant actors at national level, the NES itself is a framework
for identifying key priority areas on which land-concerned actors see opportunities for
catalysing change, either at the level of policy formulation or at the level of implementing
existing progressive policies. The NES process also involves the establishment of a multi-
stakeholder platform that accompanies the implementation of the NES, and makes
necessary adjustments on the basis of lessons learned. A NES process is therefore aimed at
facilitating collaborative and coordinated action amongst different stakeholders involved
with land at the national level to promote people-centred land governance. Through these
NES processes, opportunities are increasingly made available to national civil society actors
to collaborate among themselves and with international actors, both governmental and
non-governmental, and to engage with local and national governments.
Why a NES?Political will is a fundamental prerequisite for addressing inequalities in land access and
fighting poverty. However, the effective development and implementation of policies,
laws and institutional frameworks requires the inclusion of a wide range of actors working
together and sharing different perspectives and expertise.
A NES arises in recognition of this reality; that corrections in land inequalities, in favour
of poor and marginalised groups, are more effectively achieved through the collaborative
and coordinated efforts of multiple actors, rather than adopting overlapping or even
confrontational approaches.
Experience has proven that NES processes have strengthened partnerships and the
mutual recognition of diverse actors, producing a momentum for improved land rights. By
fundamentally changing the quality of interaction between CSOs and Governments, NES
processes have helped increase the political weight of civil society and vulnerable groups,
shifting perspectives of Governments to see CSOs as credible sources of knowledge and
experts on land related matters. National use of international instruments, such as the
VGGTs and F&Gs have also fostered improvements in collaborations, as well as promoting a
stronger focus on women’s land rights and gender justice.
How?A NES is developed in two phases, the first being formulation, and the second being actual
implementation of the strategy.
The formulation phase of the NES is carried out through regional and national multi-
stakeholder consultations and workshops, where participants – identified amongst the key
national players – identify priorities, potential synergies and agree on joint actions to be
undertaken resulting in an action plan that will guide the implementation phase of the NES
for the following years.
Who?While national civil society members of ILC represent the starting point and main promoters
of NES during their initial stages, NES are to be considered open and living processes for
knowledge production and sharing, policy dialogue and coordinated action, and are
therefore open to any civil society, public or private land actor willing to participate and
contribute to working towards a united goal, that is: the realisation of people-centred
land governance.
Acknowledgements
As part of its commitment to its members and partners, the International Land Coalition
(ILC) initiated the process of developing country-level National Engagement Strategies
(NES) in response to emerging needs in selected countries where its members were present.
In each country selected, the NES is intended to engage relevant stakeholders in a focused,
coordinated, coherent, and responsive manner, building on past experience and lessons.
ILC has always been very supportive of actions by members and partners to promote
land rights and access to natural resources for poor and marginalised communities. The
Coalition’s Strategic Framework for 2011–2015 set a number of specific objectives to
advance members’ work. As part of the Strategic Framework, ILC identified a number of
countries, including Bangladesh, where focused and coordinated engagement on land
issues will be promoted, with clearly defined, time-bound objectives and action plans for
the short, medium, and long terms.
This document is a result of this process of engagement, and is based on a scoping study
and on the deliberations and recommendations of an NES workshop held in Dhaka on
7–8 April 2012, plus subsequent meetings. We are very grateful to all participants in these
gatherings for their valuable contributions and inputs. Both the plenary presentations and
group work were tremendously useful, providing input that has enriched this document.
The support and encouragement provided by ILC is gratefully acknowledged. We are
especially grateful to Dr. Madiodio Niasse, Director of ILC, for his personal presence and
active participation in the April 2012 workshop and also for his involvement and valuable
contributions at different stages of the process. We are also grateful to Dr. Iftekharuzzaman
of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Adv., Syeda Rezwana Hasan of BELA
(Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association), Ms. Farah Kabir of ActionAid Bangladesh,
and Mr. Antonio B. Quizon, Chair of ANGOC (Asian NGO Coalition) for their participation,
presentations, and valuable input into the workshop.
We are indebted to everybody involved in this process, including our hardworking
colleagues at the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD).
ILC Members in BangladeshAssociation for Realisation of Basic Needs (ARBAN)
Community Development Association (CDA)
Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD)
AcronymsAAHM Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition
ALRD Association for Land Reform and Development
ANGOC Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
ARBAN Association for Realisation of Basic Needs
BNP Bangladesh Nationalist Party
CDA Community Development Association
CDSP Char Development and Settlement Project
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
CHT Chittagong Hill Tracts
CSO Civil society organisation
DLRS Directorate of Land Records and Surveys
EBSATA East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act
GoB Government of Bangladesh
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
IFC International Finance Corporation
ILC International Land Coalition
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
LAB Land Appeal Board
LDRC Land Dispute Resolution Commission
LDT Land Development Tax
LRB Land Reform Board
MOL Ministry of Land
NES National Engagement Strategy
NGO Non-government organisation
OLA Observatory on Land Acquisitions
PSRP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
ROR Record of Rights
SEZ Special Economic Zone
TIB Transparency International Bangladesh
UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UNO Upazila Nirbahi Officer
VPA Vested Property Act
Contents
Executive summary 9
Background 12Social, political, and economic context 12
Objectives 13
Scope and methodology 13
Land governance in Bangladesh 14The legal framework 14
East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 14
Land Reform Policy, 1972 14
Land Reforms Ordinance, 1984 14
Laws relating to alluvion and diluvion land 15
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Sixth Five Year Plan 15
International covenants and conventions ratified by Bangladesh 15
Key actors in the land and natural resources sector 17Ministry of Land 17
Land Reform Board 17
Land Appeal Board 18
Directorate of Land Records and Surveys (DLRS) 18
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs –
Office of the Inspector-General of Registration 18
Land rights NGOs 18
ILC members in Bangladesh 19
Political parties 19
The private sector 20
International development partners 20
The land context: issues and challenges 21Indigenous people’s access to land 22
Rights to land of religious minorities 23
Women’s access to land 23
Fishers’ access to water bodies 24
Access to land for char dwellers 24
Access to land for the urban poor 25
Commercialisation of land and natural resources 25
Sharecroppers’ access to land 25
Rights of agricultural labourers 25
Absentee land ownership 26
Land litigation 26
Land use regulations 26
The National Engagement Strategy (NES) 27International Land Coalition (ILC) and members in Bangladesh 27
Other stakeholders 27
Engaging stakeholders – ways and means 28
Priority areas for intervention 28
Effective land use policy and laws to protect agricultural
and forest land and food security 29
Land grabbing 30
Climate change and food security 30
Implementation/enforcement of the Vested Properties Return Act, 2011 31
Land and women 32
Indigenous peoples development policy focusing
on recognition of customary land rights 32
Establishing a multi-stakeholder land platform
for monitoring land governance and corruption 33
Implementation of the NES 33
Monitoring and reporting 34
Action plan: activities and partners 35
ANNEX 1: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 36
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Executive summary
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with a population of
about 161 million on a territory of 144,000 square kilometres. The overwhelming majority of
people are ethnic Bengalis, but there are diversities in term of faith, culture, and ethnicity. Despite
the general homogeneity of the country, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region and some of the
plains areas have a significant number of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples (IPs).
Secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor people, IPs, women, and
other marginalised groups is a significant factor in poverty eradication, which can effectively
contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The approach used in the country’s “green revolution” was highly growth-oriented without
consideration for distributing resources, with the result that growth in output has led to
increased inequalities in society. Poverty and deprivation have persisted because of an unequal
distribution of resources, in particular a lack of access to land and natural resources in rural areas.
The experience of deprivation has been passed on from one generation to another and
is especially pronounced in some geographic contexts, such as areas affected by river
erosion, extreme weather, or fragile ecological conditions. The process of marginalisation
is associated with landlessness and voicelessness; social, political, and economic exclusions
deriving from a hierarchical and patriarchal society have prevented poor people, and in
particular women, from participating in the process of governance and benefiting from
growth in the national economy. The persistence of poverty and deprivation requires new
strategies, efforts, and tools to make inroads against poverty.
One of the main underlying causes of poverty and livelihoods insecurity is weak and
corrupt governance, which leads to poor enforcement of laws, particularly those relating
to land redistribution and access to land for poor women and IPs. This results in the most
vulnerable people, especially those who are landless, being excluded from benefiting from
land and natural resources. Powerful individuals have illegally occupied khas (state-owned)
land, depriving the poor of this resource. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge about land
rights among the voiceless and an absence of institutional support for realisation of their
rights. The gradual criminalisation of the country’s politics over decades and a concomitant
lack of an effective legal and policy regime mean that there are increasing numbers of
cases of forcible land-grabbing by powerful vested-interest groups, with the victims most
often being the powerless common populace. Due to a lack of pro-poor policies and laws,
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ESH land grabbing and the commercialisation of natural resources are taking away the space of
the poor and marginalised. The policies of global actors promoting the commercialisation
of agriculture have aggravated the food insecurity of farmers and have increased the
vulnerability of the poor, women in particular.
Since the country’s independence in 1971, a number of amendments have been made to
the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, the first in 1972 and most recently
the guidelines of 2003. All these amendments have given priority to the poor, the landless,
plainland IPs, and other marginalised groups in the redistribution of khas land. However,
in reality these groups have been excluded from benefits such as the possession and
utilisation of land, and policies have been ineffective due to poor governance, corruption,
and the influence of vested-interest groups.
The positive impact that non-government organisations (NGOs) and micro-finance
institutions (MFIs) have on social development indicators in Bangladesh is undeniable,
although there are still only a few rights-based NGOs engaged on land rights issues. A rights-
based approach can potentially have multiple effects in the context of wider campaigns for
land reform and the redistribution of resources in favour of the poor and marginalised.
The National Engagement Strategy (NES) has been designed to be implemented over
a period of two years and aims to identify modalities of intervention and areas of work
for ILC members and partners in Bangladesh on issues of land governance, in particular
access to land and natural resources for poor and marginalised communities, while taking
into account social, political, economic, and gender contexts. The NES has identified the
following challenges and priority intervention areas to be addressed for the first two years
of implementation.
Challenges include the following:
» The absence of adequate and appropriate policy and legal safeguards against land
abuse and forcible land grabs;
» The fragmentation of land holdings into smaller plots and security of tenure for small
land holders and landless peasants;
» Insecurity of tenure for small land holders impacting on human rights, livelihoods and
food security, and sovereignty of grassroots communities;
» Non-functioning of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission and setting up of a
similar commission for indigenous groups in the plains;
» The patriarchal nature of the legal regime, which is a major obstacle to achieving equal
land rights for women;
» The absence of institutional platforms for dialogue between stakeholders, in particular
between government and civil society, the media, private sector actors, and donors, on
issues of land reforms and land governance;
» Corruption in the maintenance of land records, surveying, distribution of khas land,
sale and purchase of land, illegal occupation, land grabbing, and legal processes, all of
which deny poor women and men and marginalised communities their fundamental
right of access to justice.
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ESHPriority intervention areas include the following:
» Effective land use policy and laws to regulate commercialisation and stop land grabbing;
» Climate change and food security;
» Implementation/enforcement of the Vested Properties Return (Amendment) Bill
of 2011, which aims to return property seized from the country’s Hindu and other
minorities;
» Land and women;
» A development policy for indigenous peoples, focusing on the recognition of IPs’
customary land rights;
» Monitoring land corruption;
» Establishing a multi-stakeholder land platform.
ILC members and partners have overall responsibility for the implementation of the NES.
At country level, members and partners will take the lead, with the Association for Land
Reform and Development (ALRD) serving as the secretariat and also as the institutional
anchor for the implementation of activities.
Concerted efforts are needed by all stakeholders to mobilise to protect the land rights
of poor and marginalised communities, articulate their aspirations for socio-economic
development, and advocate to bring about concrete changes in favour of these communities.
ILC members and partners in Bangladesh have the organisational focus and resources
required, including technical expertise and in-depth understanding of relevant issues and
challenges. ILC members are well placed and confident about engaging with relevant
stakeholders to implement the NES action plan over the next two years.
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Background
Social, political, and economic contextBangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with a total
population of about 161 million, according to the latest census data, all of them squeezed
into a territory of barely 144,000 square kilometres. With 80% of the population directly
dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, the pressure on land is simply overwhelming.
Combined with the absence of effective agrarian reforms in recent decades, this has resulted
in the fragmentation of land holdings and unequal distribution of land assets. It is estimated
that just 20% of the population own over 80% of land holdings.
Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has gone through periods of electoral
democracy interspersed with intervals of military rule. The last autocratic regime was
overturned in the early 1990s and since then the two major political parties (the centre-left
Awami League and the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)) have alternated in
power. However, the country remains politically unstable, with the two main parties having
little common ground on key governance issues.
Bangladesh’s population is overwhelmingly Bengali-speaking and Muslim, but there
are diversities in terms of faith, culture, and ethnicity. A number of indigenous
communities, who have their own languages and cultures, are dispersed all over the
country, with the largest concentration in the region of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT ).
In all, indigenous peoples (IPs) make up around 1.2% of the country’s total population.
IPs are among the most disadvantaged in terms of access to natural resources and
land. They are also the most marginalised, with a long history of alienation from land
and ancestral domains.
Bangladesh also has significant Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian minority populations. They
have been victims of a particularly discriminatory piece of legislation initially adopted
in 1965 and known as the Enemy Property Act, which after independence in 1971 was
renamed the Vested Property Act. This law allowed the government to confiscate property
from any individual it designated an “enemy of the state”. After consistent advocacy by civil
society (with the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) playing a leading
role), the law was repealed and replaced by a new law, the Vested Properties Return Act of
2001, which was amended in 2011 and 2012. This opened the door for justice by allowing
dispossessed people to claim back their land through legal process.
Recently, commercialisation and the impacts of globalisation have accelerated the process
of land grabbing and the alienation of IPs and small land holders from natural resources.
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ESHGender context: Although a National Women Development Policy was adopted by the
government in 2011, setting out a number of progressive measures that benefited women,
gender-related violence continues to plague Bangladeshi society and gender equality
remains a distant dream. Women have disproportionately low levels of access to land and
natural resources, and equality in this area is yet to be recognised by law.
ObjectivesThe National Engagement Strategy (NES) has been developed with the objectives of
identifying modalities of intervention and areas of work for ILC and its members and
partners in Bangladesh on issues of land governance, in particular access to land and natural
resources for poor and marginalised communities. It does this by taking into account the
social, political, economic, and gender contexts of present-day Bangladesh with regard to
people’s access to land and natural resources and how to safeguard the rights of the poor.
The overall objectives of the NES comprise the following:
» To define a course of action and approach for ILC members and partners in Bangladesh
with regard to land governance and access to land and natural resources for poor and
marginalised communities, including IPs and women;
» To create an appropriate platform/alliance/coalition at national level to address the
priority issues and to link with ILC;
» To identify relevant stakeholders in the execution of the NES and their potential roles
and responsibilities;
» To determine the scale of resources that could be required for the effective
implementation of the NES.
Scope and methodologyThe elaboration of the NES followed a comprehensive process of consultation and
participation by stakeholders, including civil society, media, donors, and selected
government agencies. These consultations were conducted by a variety of means: face-to-
face interviews, focus group discussions, and finally a two-day workshop held on 7–8 April
2012 in Dhaka, which brought together a broad range of stakeholders in the presence of
ILC representatives. Comments, opinions, and feedback received from these consultations
have been essential in establishing the priorities and focus areas for ILC and its members in
Bangladesh, and are duly reflected in the NES.
The development of the NES has also relied to a great extent on secondary literature.
These references were used extensively to elaborate the background situation and the
programming and policy context for ILC’s interventions in the country. However, the main
reference point for the NES remains ILC’s Strategic Framework 2011–2015.
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Land governance in Bangladesh
The legal framework
East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950
In 1950, the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act (EBSATA) was passed by the East
Bengal Legislative Council. Under EBSATA, all rent-receiving interests and intermediaries
were eliminated and, with a view to making them direct tenants of the government,
peasants were redesignated maliks (“owners”). The maliks were entrusted with the right to
transfer, inherit, and cultivate land according to their own wishes. The maximum ceiling for
ownership of cultivable land was fixed at 33.3 acres per family; in 1961, under the military
regime of General Ayub Khan, the ceiling was raised to 125 acres per family.
Land Reform Policy, 1972
The main points of the Land Reform Policy of 1972 were as follows: (i) the ceiling of maximum
land ownership was reduced again to 33.33 acres (100 bighas) from 125 acres (375 bighas1);
(ii) surplus land was to be acquired by the government and distributed amongst landless
peasants; (iii) new diluvial and accreted land would be acquired by the government and
treated as khas (public state-owned) land; (iv) land owners holding less than 25 bighas or 8.33
acres were exempted from paying land revenue (tax).
Land Reforms Ordinance, 1984
The Land Reforms Ordinance of 1984 was promulgated following a long struggle by the country’s
landless people’s movement and was based on the recommendations of a specially formed
committee, which emphasised the distribution of khas land among landless families. The main
features of the 1984 reform were as follows: (i) the maximum land ceiling was reduced from 33.33
acres to 20 acres; (ii) “benami” transactions (i.e. the purchase or transfer of land in the name of another
person to conceal the actual possession of the land holding) were prohibited; (iii) the minimum
wage for agricultural labourers was fixed as equivalent to the value of 3kg of rice; (iv) the eviction
of tenants from their paternal homestead was prohibited; and (v) the rights of sharecroppers were
recognised, with the land owner receiving one-third of the produce and the sharecropper keeping
one-third for his labour, while the remaining one-third was shared between the two.
1 A bigha is a traditional unit of land measurement; three bighas are roughly equivalent to one acre.
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ESHLaws relating to alluvion and diluvion land
According to Section 86 of EBSATA, if land in any holding is lost through river erosion, the
right, title, and interest of the tenant or his successor-in-interest shall subsist in such land
during the period of loss by diluvion, not exceeding 30 years. However, any new alluvial
land in any river or coastal zones not belonging to any private holding would be declared
as khas land to be distributed among landless people, as per government guidelines.2
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Sixth Five Year Plan
The Government of Bangladesh (GoB)’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), titled
“Unlocking the Potentials: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction”, emphasised
the effective distribution of state-owned land and ponds to landless families and the allocation
of land for pro-poor housing programmes. The relevant part read as follows: “Along with
economic growth, policies would be emphasized to promote improved distribution of assets
and income in favour of the poor, including women. Just preventing any serious worsening
of income distribution to ensure poverty reduction as average income increases would not
be enough for meeting the MDGs set out in the strategy. For the purpose, one important
avenue would be to ensure broad-based asset access to the poor. While traditional asset (e.g.
land) distribution has limited scope in Bangladesh, other measures for reducing inequality
will be emphasized. The poor can get access to land through the tenancy market and benefit
considerably through enforcement of better terms and conditions for tenancy. Moreover, the
problem of reducing inequality will be addressed in terms of a broad asset framework. Since
the access to physical capital is technically constrained by limited availability, access to other
assets on the part of the poor will be considered. Notwithstanding the limited availability of re-
distributable land, several aspects of more equitable land-use pattern would be encouraged.
First, special emphasis will be given to effective distribution of khas (state-owned) lands and
ponds to the landless families. This will require considerable social mobilization and support
from the grass roots and class organizations of the poor, especially landless and women,
with support from the national level CSOs and NGOs. Second, land would be allocated for
supporting a pro-poor rural housing policy” (Government of Bangladesh, 2003).
Recently the GoB has adopted its comprehensive Sixth Five Year Plan. Most of the priorities
and recommendation of the PRSP have been incorporated into this plan.
International covenants and conventions ratified by Bangladesh
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
The GoB has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 17 of the UDHR
states that “(1) everyone has the right to own property...” and “(2) No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his/her property”. However, contrary to Article 17, there have been many cases
in Bangladesh where both urban and rural dwellers have been deprived of property in a
way that might be said to be arbitrary.
2 Bangladesh is the world’s largest delta system, with three great river systems that are constantly eroding land (diluvion) or
depositing accretions of mud and sand to create new char land (alluvion). Over time a large body of usage and custom has
evolved to regulate ownership of such land.
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ESH International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
The government has also ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. The ICESCR ensures that “in no case may a people be deprived of their own
means of subsistence” (Article 1.2). This article may be applied to IPs in Bangladesh.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
The GoB has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article
1.2 of which states: “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth
and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic
cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case
may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
The GoB has ratified CEDAW, but with some reservations. The relevant article is Article 16(1),
which states that husband and wife shall enjoy… “(h) The same rights for both spouses
in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and
disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration.”
ILO Convention 107
The GoB ratified ILO Convention 107 in 1972 but is yet to ratify ILO Convention 169. Both
conventions are concerned with the rights of IPs.
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Key actors in the land and natural resources sector
Ministry of LandAdministration and management of land by the GoB is the most important factor in
determining poor people’s ownership of and access to land, especially their retention
of ownership. The Ministry of Land (MOL) has overall responsibility for the management
and administration of land; collection of Land Development Tax (LDT ); maintenance
of land records; formulation of policies on land management, land use planning,
and land reforms and their implementation; and various development programmes
related to land. The MOL has three attached departments, the Land Reform Board
(LRB), the Land Appeal Board (LAB), and the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys
(DLRS). Overall responsibility for land registration lies under the jurisdiction of the
Office of the Inspector-General of Registration under the Ministry of Law, Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs.
Land management functions at the field level are carried out through Commissioners at the
division level, Deputy Commissioners at the district level, Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs –
sub-district executive officers) and Assistant Commissioners (Land) at upazila (sub-district)
level, and tehsildars (assistant land officers or revenue collectors) at the Union Council level,
the lowest tier of local government.
Land Reform BoardThe LRB has a number of functions that are discharged through upazila Land Offices and
Union Council tehsil offices. It administers khas land and manages abandoned and vested
property. It updates maps and land records between surveys, and sets and collects the LDT.
It is also formally responsible for the implementation of land reform legislation and the
implementation of tenants’ rights. The Board works under the guidance and administrative
control of the MOL.
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The Land Appeal Board is the highest revenue court in the land, serving as the final arbiter
in matters relating to khas land, changes in records, plot demarcation, and taxation that
cannot be resolved at lower levels. As such, it represents the final link in a chain running
upwards from the Assistant Commissioner (Land) and the UNO at upazila level, through the
Additional Deputy Collector (Revenue) and the Deputy Revenue Collector at the district
level. The LAB deals with the ever increasing volume of quasi-judicial appeals against the
decisions of Divisional Commissioners and Additional Commissioners on land matters,
under the policy guidance and administrative control of the MOL. The Board also provides
advice and recommendations to the government on laws, orders, and rules pertaining to
land as required.
Directorate of Land Records and Surveys (DLRS)The Directorate of Land Records and Surveys (DLRS) has responsibility for carrying out
cadastral surveys, from which it produces mouza (revenue village) maps showing individual
plots of land and land documents known as khatian as part of the Record of Rights (ROR)
for every parcel of land in Bangladesh.3 At the lowest level, the Upazilla Surveys and
Settlement Office is responsible for maintening the ROR and for preparing maps and
records. Checking work, correcting maps, and amalgamating and splitting up jamas (land
use demarcation/record for revenue collection) are all tasks done by permanent surveyors
and their supporting staff. The Zonal Settlement Officer deals with all appeal cases filed by
land owners. This officer’s responsibilities also include conducting traverse surveys of all
mouzas when required and printing of the ROR at the zonal level (covering 2–3 districts).
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs – Office of the Inspector-General of RegistrationThe Office of the Inspector-General of Registration in the Ministry of Law, Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs is responsible for registering changes in land ownership arising
through sales and other forms of transfer, reports changes to the MOL, and collects the
Immovable Property Transfer Tax. It works through District Registrars at district level and
Sub-Registrars at upazila (sub-district) level.
Land rights NGOsSince independence, NGOs have played a key role in national development. In the early
years they were the prime vehicle for much relief and rehabilitation activity and during
the period of military rule they were active in championing democratic voices. Indeed, in
a fragile state emerging from a difficult period in the early 1970s, NGOs were at times the
major force for development in the country, more so than the government.
3 The khatian provides a record of rights but is not a deed of ownership.
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ESHThe nature and role of NGOs’ collective action varies depending on the context. Although
many NGOs have played an active role in different development sectors, ALRD is the only
national land networking organisation. Besides government initiatives, more than 250
NGOs, mostly local and community-based organisations (CBOs) work to promote the cause
of land rights for landless, poor, and indigenous people.
NGOs that have done significant work on rights issues over the years include: ALRD, ASK,
BELA, BLAST, Nijera Kori, TIB, ActionAid, Ofam GB, Nagorik Uddog, RIB, Bangladesh Adivasi
Forum, CHT Commission, CDA, ARBAN, Caritas Bangladesh, RDRS, CCDB, RULFAO, BFF, SDS,
Dulai Jono Kallayan Sangstha, Sagarika, Dwip Unnayan Sangstha, LDO, SEHD, Banchte
Chai, Manab Mukti Sangstha, RFS, Sustain, Speed Trust, GRAUS, BNPS, Zabrang, Kapeeng
Foundation, Bon ‘O Bhumi Adhikar Rokkha Andolon, and Jatiya Adivasi Parishad.
ILC members in BangladeshThe Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) has a specific focus on land rights
and is the only national land networking organisation. It also engages in capacity building
and advocacy and has played a key role in coordinating with active partners. Its priority areas
for intervention include legal support for poor people, IPs, women and minority groups on
issues related to land and natural resources and research studies on land deprivation and
discrimination.
The Association for Realisation of Basic Needs (ARBAN) is an implementing rights-based NGO
that for many years has worked in both rural and urban areas with the poorest and most
vulnerable communities. Among the main objectives of its work on land rights for the urban
poor are developing alternative housing settlements for slum dwellers and advocating with
the government for squatters’ housing rights.
The Community Development Association (CDA) is an implementing rights-based NGO
operating in the northern part of Bangladesh. The central focus of its activities is mobilising
people’s organisations, mostly those of the poor and IPs. Its major areas of intervention
include capacity building and awareness raising amongst grassroots communities,
including women.
Political partiesSince the early 1990s, the country has been dominated by two main political parties, the
centre-left Awami League and the centre-right BNP. These parties and their leaders, who in
other areas have a record of promoting popular rights and democratic movements, have
done little to put the issue of land reform on the national agenda – indeed, lack of political
will is considered a major problem for constructive land reform in Bangladesh. In some parts
of the country agricultural labourers, peasants, and farmers’ unions have raised the issue of
reform in their attempts to recover khas land and water bodies from illegal occupation and
to establish the rights of the landless. However, these initiatives have failed to create any
long-term impact at either local or national level.
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ESH The private sector
The private sector in Bangladesh is generally not very positive about agrarian reforms.
Private sector actors are often very influential due to their connections with state agencies
and political parties, and some have illegally occupied both private and public land. As
there is no land zoning system or appropriate land use policy, most of the time companies
build on agricultural land, and sometimes even grab government land, water bodies, and
rivers. The private housing and real estate businesses in particular are major grabbers of
small farmers’ agricultural land.
International development partnersAccording to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005), building long-term partnerships
with government is the core strategy of international development organisations. In theory,
all development partners accept the national government’s ownership of development
projects and acknowledge the need to harmonise their activities. However, in reality these
concepts have not been fully implemented: uncoordinated support for different types
of land projects is just one example. Development partners in Bangladesh are oriented
primarily towards providing technical support and most steer clear of calling for radical
land reforms. For instance, the European Commission (EC) has done a feasibility study for a
project to develop the technical capacity of the GoB’s survey department, while from 1995
to 2003 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded three Technical Assistance projects for
land administration reformation.
Since the mid-1980s, the European Commission (EC) has been providing support to the
Bangladeshi government to build cluster villages for rural homeless people. These have
had a variety of names: in the 1980s they were called Guccha Gram (Cluster Villages), in
the 1990s they were Adarsha Gram (Model Villages), and now they are known as Ashrayan
(Shelter Places). Very recently, the EC has begun providing support to local NGOs in order to
establish the rights of landless people.
Since the mid-1980s, the Government of the Netherlands has been providing support to
the GoB to implement the Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP), which aims to
establish the rights of landless people over char land. The Dutch government also provides
support for various projects relating to management of water resources. The International
Finance Corporation (IFC) has recently provided policy advice to the GoB on reducing the
number of administrative steps involved in land registration. The World Bank is currently
considering extending its Legal and Judicial Capacity Building Project to incorporate
support for land titling.
Since 2001, bilateral donors such as DFID, DANIDA, the government of Norway, and SIDA
have been addressing the governance of land resources and supporting improved access
for the landless poor in collaboration with NGOs in Bangladesh.
Among international NGOs providing support to local orgnanisations to implement land
rights activities are Oxfam GB, ActionAid, Concern Bangladesh, CARE Bangladesh, EED
Germany, Christian Aid, Bread for the World Germany, and Misereor.
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The land context: issues and challenges
Since independence in 1971, a number of amendments have been made to the East Bengal
State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, the first in 1972 and most recently the guidelines of
2003. All these amendments have given priority to the poor, the landless, plainland IPs, and other
marginalised groups in the redistribution of khas land. However, in reality these groups have been
excluded from benefits such as the possession and utilisation of land, and policies have been
ineffective due to poor governance, corruption, and the influence of vested-interest groups.
The Land Reform Policy of 1972 emphasised khas land as an important component and
mandated the acquisition of surplus agricultural land by the government for distribution
among the landless. However, the Land Reforms Ordinance of 1984 reduced the invidual
ceiling for agricultural land ownership to 20 acres. Before the promulgation of Presidential
Ordinance 98 of 1972, it was expected that the government would recover 2.5 million acres
of surplus agricultural land. In reality, however, due to a lack of political will, the government
has not so far made any successful attempt to recover surplus land, although the Land Reform
Action Programme of 1987 made provision for any illegal occupant of khas land to be evicted.
In 1997, the government introduced a policy for the distribution of khas land, which redefined
landlessness and identified new categories of recipient for khas land. According to this
policy, landless peasants included families dependent on agriculture both with and without
homesteads. Those to be given priority for khas land included the families of freedom fighters,
those who had lost land due to river erosion, divorced women with adult sons, landless
families without a homestead, and those left landless by government land acquisition.
However, in the absence of guidelines for the management of non-agricultural state land,
such land is being settled on a temporary basis. In many cases, influential people have
already grabbed or are trying to grab these lands by obtaining ex parte decrees from the
courts with the help of forged documents. Whatever government records may show, most
of these lands are now under unauthorised occupation by the rich and powerful.
Bangladesh has 9,243 closed fisheries (jalmahals) with an area of between 3 acres and 20
acres and 3,395 fisheries larger than 20 acres. Generally, closed fisheries are leased out for
a period of one year; auctions are limited to fishers’ cooperative societies and the lease is
granted to the highest bidder. However, cooperatives are not always the real beneficiaries:
often they provide financing and take the lease of the fishery in the name of a cooperative
but fishers are used as paid labourers.
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ESH Widespread corruption in governance and bureaucratic inefficiencies in land administration
mean that Bangladesh’s legal and policy regime requires wholesale change to ensure
effective enforcement and access to justice for the poor and marginalised. Changing social
trends and rapid transformations brought about by economic growth over the past three
decades also require policy responses. Challenges include the following:
» An absence of appropriate policy and legal safeguards against land abuse and forcible
land grabs;
» Fragmentation of land holdings and insecurity of tenure;
» Non-functioning of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission and the need to set
up a similar commission for indigenous groups in the plains;
» The patriarchal nature of the legal regime, which is a major obstacle to achieving equal
land rights for women;
» The absence of an institutional platform for dialogue amongst stakeholders on issues
of land reform and governance, in particular between government and civil society,
media, the private sector and donors;
» Corruption in the keeping of land records, surveying, distribution of khas land, sales
and purchases of land, illegal occupation, land grabbing, and legal processes relating
to land, all of which deny poor women and men and marginalised communities their
fundamental right of access to justice.
The situation for women is particularly challenging. The whole body of family law governing
issues such as inheritance, maintenance, divorce, etc. is based on religious traditions.
However, women’s rights to inherit land and properties are usually denied. Past attempts
to introduce reforms to give women a degree of equity have always faced opposition from
conservative sections of society, which the country’s unhealthy political environment has
only made worse.
The key land governance issues and challenges in Bangladesh are summarised below.
Indigenous people’s access to landAlthough Bangladesh is considered to be a largely mono-racial state, 1.2% of its total
population is comprised of ethnic minorities, with 45 different ethnic groups living in
the country (GoB, 1994). They are divided geographically into two main groups – plains
dwellers and hill communities – though the GoB does not recognise them as “indigenous”
to these lands. Ethnic minorities in the plains are found largely along the north, northwest,
and northeast borders of the country while the hill people live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
(CHT), a division now split into three districts (zila) – Rangamati, Khagrachari, and Bandarban.
Land has usually been common property in indigenous societies.
The land problems facing ethnic minorities in the plains are different from those of the hill
people, while challenges also vary according to area – the problems of forest communities
have a very distinct nature, for instance.
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ESHFor the hill peoples, the situation has not improved even after the signing of the CHT Peace
Accord in 1997, which recognised the distinct identity and rights of IPs in the region, and the
enactment of new legislation for revamped Hill District Councils. This forbids settlements,
transfers, leases, or compulsory acquisition of lands in the CHT without the consent of
the relevant district council, except in certain specified areas. However, the Land Dispute
Resolution Commission (LDRC), which was established under the Peace Accord, has not
been activated by the government. This means that the only institutional mechanism that
could potentially resolve land disputes in the CHT and restitute illegally occupied hilly lands
to their owners has not been allowed to function.
Some 50 years ago ethnic minority people constituted more than 75% of the population of
the CHT, but now they account for only around 47%. Since the 1960s, the construction of
the Kaptai Dam and hydro-electricity project has submerged 54,000 acres of land (40% of
all cultivable land in the hill districts) and has displaced over 85,000 people. Thousands of
acres of ploughland have been distributed amongst settlers from the plain districts; 18,000
households were uprooted under the pretext of various development projects, including
rubber and pineapple plantations (Gain and Moral, 1995). The problem of access to land for
IPs in the hill districts is multi-dimensional and complicated.
Rights to land of religious minoritiesThe land rights of religious minorities have been to a large extent denied by the draconian
Vested Property Act, which has been used to dispossess almost three-quarters of 9.2% of
the total population of their ancestral lands. The law was initially introduced as the Enemy
Property Act in 1965, when Pakistan (of which Bangladesh was then the eastern part) and
India fought a 17-day armed conflict. After Bangladesh gained its independence from
Pakistan in 1971, the law was renamed the Vested Property Act (VPA) but still held sway
over around 2 million acres of land. Around 750,000 households have been dispossessed
under the VPA (Barkat et al., 2000) – mostly religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians,
and Buddhists but also plainland IPs such as the Santal, Garo, Hajong, and Khasi. The Act was
finally repealed and replaced by the Vested Properties Return Act in 2001 and, after a series
of campaigns, the law was amended in 2011 and again in 2012.
Women’s access to landDespite a number of government development initiatives to improve women’s
empowerment, progress has been far from satisfactory over the past three decades.
One factor acting against women’s development is their lack of equal rights and access
to resources, particularly land. Existing laws of inheritance, patriarchal values, and social
practices tend to reinforce discriminatory attitudes. Inheritance is governed by personal
laws according to the religion of the concerned individual. More than 90% of Bangladeshi
women are subject to Muslim laws of inheritance while Hindu women, whose religion
is followed by 9% of the population, are governed by the Daibhag, a Hindu treatise on
inheritance rights.
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ESH According to Muslim law, a woman has some limited rights to inherit property, but the
Daibhag contains virtually no provision for a Hindu women to inherit, except in a few
exceptional circumstances. In Muslim society, women’s ownership rights to land are also
eroded by cultural customs, where established norms dictate that a “good sister” should
surrender her share of paternal property in favour of her brothers. This discourages women
from asserting their rights.
According to the government’s Khas Land Management and Distribution Policy, all khas
land should be distributed in the names of both husband and wife on the basis of joint
ownership. The cluster village programme distributes homesteads to rural homeless and
rootless families on the same basis. A review of materials from the consultations on the
PRSP reveals that, to promote equity and empowerment of women in relation to land
rights, participants strongly recommended a reform of Hindu inheritance law as well as
amendments to discriminatory sections of Muslim laws on inheritance.
Fishers’ access to water bodiesAlmost 10% of the rural population in Bangladesh depend on the fisheries sub-sector for
their livelihoods. An estimated 1.2 million people are directly employed full-time, and 12
million people are involved indirectly, fishing part-time on a seasonal basis.
The biggest problem causing the marginalisation of fisher communities is their lack of access
to water bodies – a denial of their legal rights. Access to inland water sources in wetland
areas is partly determined on the basis of water body lease rights (jalmahals), which are
allocated by the local representative of the MOL in each district via an auction for one, two,
or three years at a time. Although fishers’ cooperatives are supposed to receive preference
in obtaining leases, in practice their rights are often usurped by elites. The auction price is
usually extremely low and the leaseholder then extorts rent from the fishers, who work as
paid labourers; potentially the leaseholder can make a profit of up to 1,000% of the auction
price (UNDP, 1995). This practice helps to keep poor fisher folk in poverty.
Access to land for char dwellersAround 5% of the country’s population live on char lands (land created by accretion from
rivers and the sea). Poverty and vulnerability are more prevalent in the char lands than in the
plain areas. Lack of access to productive resources, particularly land, is a major problem in
the chars. Some 57% of households own no land at all, either homestead or cultivable, and
3% of households own less than 5 decimals of land.4 This means that 60% of households in
the chars are absolutely landless. Char dwellers have been unable to establish their rights
to khas land due to the complicated, inconsistent, and changing nature of laws relating
to char land and because they have not been able to complete and respond to a related
government survey.
4 A decimal is roughly equal to 1/100th of an acre.
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ESHAccess to land for the urban poor
The urban poor do not own land, but obtain access to it mainly as renters in private slums
or by living in squatter settlements. The shelter and environmental conditions in both types
of settlement are extremely poor, with high levels of deprivation. In addition, slum dwellers
face the threat of rent increases, while squatters face the problem of insecurity and the
danger of eviction. There are a number of legislative or legal controls guiding the use of
land in urban areas, but as yet there is no specific policy or law to protect the basic rights of
the urban poor living in squatted settlements.
Commercialisation of land and natural resourcesThe commercialisation and commoditisation of land and natural resources has emerged as a
growing threat in recent years. This ominous trend has become a serious obstacle to upholding
land rights and access to natural resources for poor and marginalised communities. While
it is driven essentially by the private sector, it is exacerbated by the inappropriate policies
of multilateral agencies, donors’ aid prescriptions, and the inordinate influence that many
transnational corporations exercise over national governments. In Bangladesh, this process
is encouraged by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, posing a threat to the country’s scarce
land and other natural resources and further marginalisaing the poorest sections of society .
Sharecroppers’ access to landThe Land Reforms Ordinance of 1984 recognised bargadars (sharecroppers) as rightful
occupants of the land they cultivate, with a right to inheritance and security of tenancy
for at least five years through formal contract. The ordinance stipulated that one-third of
produce grown on this barga land would go to the land owner, one-third would be kept
by the bargadar in payment for their labour, and the final third woud go to either the land
owner or the bargadar, or be split between them, in proportion to the cost of cultivation
borne by them, other than the cost of labour.
However, this law has never been enforced, mainly because political parties and the
bureaucracy are largely controlled by the vested interests of land owners. To uphold the
rights of sharecroppers, a wider campaign is needed not only to enforce the law but also to
amend it so that it can protect sharecroppers’ rights and interests in a context of changing
agricultural markets and globalisation.
Rights of agricultural labourersAlmost 63% of the Bangladeshi workforce is involved in the agricultural sector. At least
half of the workforce sell their labour, earning their livelihoods as agricultural workers.
Agricultural labourers do not have any scheduled work time, provision for leave, or above all
work security. Usually they are paid very low wages, even though they work very long hours.
The Land Reform Act of 1984 fixed a minimum wage for agricultural labourers, but this did
not match their needs, such as the market price of rice and other essential commodities. To
protect the basic human rights of agricultural labourers, revision of the Agricultural Labour
(Minimum Wages) Ordinance of 1984 is urgently needed.
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ESH Absentee land ownership
One of the main problems for land reform in Bangladesh is absentee land ownership.
Just 13% of households own 58% of all land in the country. Most owners are not directly
involved in agriculture as they live in urban areas, and income from land is not their principal
livelihood source. Most agricultural land is owned and controlled by people who are not
farmers, which creates a system of intermediaries and rent-receiving vested interests in
agriculture. Absentee land ownership has become chronic due to non-enforcement of the
ceiling law by successive governments over recent decades. For any meaningful attempt at
effective agrarian reform, the ceiling law must be enforced and absentee land ownership
must be abolished once and for all.
Land litigationLand litigation is a curse to many families in Bangladesh. About 2.5 million land litigation
cases, including 1.4 million pending cases, clog the courts annually (Barkat and Roy, 2004).
Some 77% of all pending cases, both civil and criminal, relate to land disputes.
Poor people have very limited access to the judiciary process, and need legal support to
establish their rights over land. Some rights-based NGOs and civil society organisations
(CSOs) have played a positive role in settling land disputes by providing legal aid and legal
education to landless and marginalised communities.
Land use regulationsIn the absence of any effective land use policy, agricultural land, water bodies, and other
natural resources in Bangladesh are abused and grabbed by different agencies, both
private and public, as well as by individuals with connections to state power. As a result,
the commercialisation of land can be very aggressive, and can see the basic rights of poor
people and small farmers snatched away.
The negative impact of commercialisation has been evident in a reduction in the area of
land being used for agriculture. There is less land available for cultivation, and the sector
suffers from unemployment and under-employment. A huge number of farmers have
left farming, while many fishers have abandoned fishing, with an accompanying increase
in rural-to-urban migration. Land degradation has been caused by plantations of alien
tree species, tobacco cultivation, and the spread of brick fields, which have permanently
damaged soil fertility. Shrimp cultivation has caused irreversible ecological damage, and
natural fish production has decreased. Poor people have been forced to sell their land to
middle-class or wealthy people. A national policy on land use is urgently needed, with
practical mechanisms for the quick and effective implementation of agrarian reform.
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The National Engagement Strategy (NES)
International Land Coalition (ILC) and members in BangladeshFor more than a decade, ILC has been an active advocate on issues of land rights, agrarian
reform, and access to land and natural resources for poor and marginalised communities in
Bangladesh. It carries out these advocacy initiatives jointly with its members and in-country
partners and with sub-regional CSOs such as the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform
and Rural Development (ANGOC), based in Manila, and the Alliance Against Hunger and
Malnutrition in Asia (AAHM Asia).
ILC currently has three NGO members in Bangladesh: the Association for Land Reform
and Development (ALRD), the Association for Realisation of Basic Needs (ARBAN), and the
Community Development Association (CDA). All three organisations are known across the
country for their activities and effective advocacy on issues of land rights and agrarian reform.
Other stakeholdersThe NES presumes collaboration or at least institutionalised interactions with a range of
stakeholders for its effective execution.
Stakeholders can be categorised broadly into the following groups:
» Government
» Political parties
» Legislative representatives
» Local government institutions (LGIs)
» Civil society
» International development partners
» Bilateral and multilateral institutions
» Media
» The private sector.
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ESH The main objectives in implementing the NES are first to identify relevant stakeholders and
then to bring them into dialogue around an institutional platform on a broad range of
issues related to land governance.
Engaging stakeholders – ways and meansIn implementing the NES, it is essential to engage diverse stakeholders with varying
degrees of involvement and interest in the issue of land governance in Bangladesh. Given
the complexity and often politically sensitive nature of this area, it is crucial to persuade like-
minded allies to build momentum on advocacy initiatives to hold duty-bearers accountable.
Dialogue should be the key instrument in engaging stakeholders and in conducting
advocacy activities. A vital element in this is to try to build an institutional platform through
which stakeholders can regularly exchange views and seek common ground. Effective
dialogue and advocacy pre-suppose well researched and documented cases based on
solid evidence and experience from the field. They also require appropriate messages to be
tailored to the target audience.
Finally, engaging with any stakeholder requires a keen understanding of the context and
of current challenges and opportunities. On a broader scale, this implies in-depth analysis
of legal, political, economic, and policy conditions in Bangladesh, as well as analysis of the
sectoral policy regime pertaining to that particular stakeholder.
Priority areas for interventionILC has always been very supportive of its members and partners in their actions towards
promoting land rights and access to natural resources for poor people and marginalised
communities. The Coalition’s Strategic Framework for 2011–2015 set specific goals to
advance members’ work and identified a number of countries, including Bangladesh, for
focused and coordinated engagement with clearly defined, time-bound objectives and
action plans for the short, medium, and long terms. ILC has identified a number of factors
responsible for the global rush for land, including increases in population, economic
growth, poor harvests, hikes in food prices, low levels of investment in agriculture and food
production, bans on food exports, land degradation, depletion of water resources, climate
change and variability, land rights violations, and so on.
This document is based on a scoping study and on the deliberations and recommendations
of an NES workshop held on 7–8 April 2012 at the BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka. Findings from
subsequent workshops have also been taken into account in setting priority interventions.
The April 2012 multi-stakeholder workshop involved the participation of 61 people
representing CSOs, NGOs, development partners, network members, and academia. The
workshop discussed the main land issues and challenges facing Bangladesh and, on the
basis of responses provided by development agencies and other actors, suggested the
main areas of focus for ILC’s support to members and partners in in the country over the
next 3–4 years.
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ESHAnother workshop was held on 2 January 2013, attended by a total of 30 representatives
from 14 organisations (for a list of participants, see Annex 1. Participants stressed the need to
form a multi-stakeholder land platform or coalition. Ms. Farha Kabir of ActionAid emphasised
the value addition that could be achieved from such a coalition, while Dr. Iftekharuzzaman
of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) argued that it would help helping getting
people’s collective voices heard both at national level and internationally. He said that TIB’s
next report on land-related corruption could be jointly published and disseminated in
the name of the proposed national coalition, and noted that budget sharing for activities
and events would be easier with such a platform in place. He also suggested that the NES
Bangladesh secretariat, hosted by ALRD, should take the lead on drafting a ToR/operational
guideline or code of conduct for the proposed coalition. After an active discussion, it was
agreed to adopt the proposals put forward by Dr. Iftekharuzzaman and Ms. Farah Kabir.
The NES Bangladesh secretariat also organised a two-day workshop on “National Land
Coalition Guideline Development” at ALRD’s premises on 23–24 January 2013, chaired by
Mr. Mohammad Kamal Uddin (coordinator of ARBAN and Chair of the NES Working Group).
The participants in this workshop were NES working group members endorsed at the
workshop earlier that month, who were tasked with drafting a ToR/operational guideline/
code of conduct for the proposed coalition. The workshop produced a draft “Memorandum
of the Land Coalition” and resolved to hold another meeting of the NES Bangladesh platform
where the draft memorandum and proposed “Points of Action Plan” are expected to be
finalised.
Participants in these workshops and meetings discussed issues and challenges, which led
to the selection of the following points as priority areas for intervention under the NES.
Effective land use policy and laws to protect agricultural and forest land and food security
Bangladesh at present has no effective land use policy or law to protect agricultural and
forest land and other natural resources, and these lands are being abused and grabbed by
both private and public agencies and by powerful individuals, especially those connected
with state power. The commercialisation of land can be very aggressive, depriving poor
people and small farmers of their basic rights. The negative impact of this process of
commercialisation is evident in the diminishing area of agricultural land.
This has enormous consequences, such as reduced food security; persistent unemployment
and under-employment in the agricultural sector; increased rural-to-urban migration;
diminished natural fish production; and degradation of land through the planting of alien
tree species, cultivation of tobacco, shrimp farming, and brick manufacturing, causing
irreversible damage to soil fertility and the natural ecology. As a result of these changes, a
huge number of farmers and fisher-folk have left their occupatrions, and poor people have
been forced to sell their lands to middle-class or rich buyers. There is therefore an urgent
need for a national land use policy and laws, with pragmatic mechanisms for quick and
effective implementation of agrarian reform.
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ESH ILC members and partners intend to address these issues through consultation, dialogue,
and workshops, linking to relevant global processes such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisgeries and Forests (VGGT) at national level
and mobilising through awareness raising and mass gatherings at zonal level, and through
global monitoring of land grabbing, including by ILC.
ILC members and partners will run campaigns based on the VGGT to raise awareness of
malpractice by individuals and the private sector, and will advocate against anti-poor
policies which can encourage such malpractice. They will also initiate a process to replicate
ILC’s Observatory on Land Acquisitions (OLA) project in Bangladesh, with support from
the OLA team. At the same time, ILC members and partners will continue to advocate for
the adoption of a land use policy and laws that safeguard the rights and interests of poor
and marginalised people. They will also strive to enforce specific laws on the protection of
agricultural land, appropriate zoning, and the prevention of abuse.
Land grabbing
As already stated, in the absence of an effective land use policy and law, different forms of
land grabbing take place, of both private and public land, including khas land. External factors
include corrupt governance, political criminalisation,5 falsification of documents in connivance
with vested interest groups, commercialisation of land (sometimes by reclassifying its status),
and acquisition of land for infrastructure development and plantations. Land grabbing
is rampant throughout the country but is particularly prevalent in the CHT region and IP
plainland areas. There are increasing numbers of cases of forcible land grabbing by powerful
vested interest groups and the victims are, most often, the powerless common people.
ILC members and partners are committed to fighting against the growing threats of land
grabbing, commercialisation, acquisition, and other forms of abuse of agricultural and forest
land and other natural resources through mobilisation workshops, rallies, and campaigns
and to providing legal and court support to victims to seek redress.
Climate change and food security
Bangladesh is already experiencing adverse impacts of climate change due to global
warming, which are exacerbating its vulnerability to both natural and man-made disasters.
Over the past three decades the country has experienced a series of extreme disaster events,
which have claimed millions of lives and destroyed development gains. The impacts of
these disasters have put significant stress on physical and environmental resources, human
abilities, and economic activities.
5 According to Dr. Abul Barkat, an eminent economist and professor at Dhaka University, Bangladesh is caught in a trap of
economic criminalisation, which can be attributed to a legacy of anti-poor political economy and crisis in governance.
Economic induced criminalisation (process by which individuals and behaviours are transformed into crime and criminals)
either through need or greed, or weak societal barriers against it, has acted as a powerful catalyst to criminalise all spheres
of politics and society, leading to the exclusion of many over the past three decades. Bangladesh has a discriminatory
dual economy: one economy represented by around one million people who wield most of the power (irrespective of
who holds formal power) and the other represented by the unempowered majority of 160 million people – the excluded,
deprived, and distressed. To understand the changing dynamics of poor people’s access to land and growing inequality in
Bangladesh, this historical context of the politico-economic structure must be considered.
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ESHThe impacts of climate change are being felt most keenly in the sectors of water and coastal
resources, agriculture, health, livelihoods, and food security, including impacts on socio-
economic patterns. It has been predicted that if global temperatures increase by 2–3°C,
between 250 million and 550 million people in Asia and Africa will experience disrupted
cultivation and will suffer serious food shortages, as they are heavily dependent on natural
agriculture (Stern, 2006). In Bangladesh, by 2050 the impacts of climate change are likely to
reduce yields of rice paddy and wheat by 8% and 32% respectively (Faisal and Parveen, 2004).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that, by 2050, 17% of
Bangladesh’s land area will have been lost to rising sea levels, creating 20 million refugees
– 16% of the population. Around 20 million Bangladeshis live in coastal and island areas
of the Bay of Bengal vulnerable to cyclones, and poor and disadvantaged people are the
most vulnerable. A combination of natural hazards (impacts of global warming, frequent
cyclones, river erosion, tidal surges, salinity) and man-made hazards (illegal large-scale
shrimp farming, encroachment on rivers and channels, deforestation, haphazard and
unplanned land use, various forms of pollution) has adversely affected the everyday lives
and livelihoods of millions of people and has slowed down the pace of social and economic
development in the region. In recent years, shrimp cultivation has become very attractive
commercially and large areas of traditional rice lands have been converted into shrimp
farms in the southwest of the country (especially around Khulna) and other coastal regions.
Across the country, around 1 million hectares of arable land are affected by soil salinity
to varying degrees. Inhabitants of the coastal zones are generally poorer than the main
population and are increasingly being targeted in efforts to reduce poverty. However, the
majority of the population in the coastal belt still depends on natural agriculture for their
incomes and livelihoods, and so remain extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.
ALRD plans to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on land and agriculture
by commissioning a study on issues such as land loss and degradation, displacement, and
the rights of environmental refugees. This will attempt to understand how climate change,
especially the recurrent floods and rises in sea level to which Bangladesh is exposed, affect
the rural poor and their land rights. Its findings will be discussed at workshops, seminars,
and knowledge sharing events at both national and zonal levels by the national NES
Bangladesh platform/land coalition. The coalition will aim to mobilise opinion on the
rights of environmental refugees and will continue to advocate for inclusive, balanced, and
sustainable economic growth that guarantees access to and control over land and natural
resources for the poor.
Implementation/enforcement of the Vested Properties Return Act, 2011
For over 20 years ALRD has successfully advocated on the issue of the Enemy Property Act/
Vested Property Act, which has deprived almost 10 million people of religious and ethnic
minority groups of their land. The NGO and its partners organised continuous advocacy
campaigns through seminars, workshops, roundtable discussions, and community-level
meetings, which forced the government to take account of public demand to revoke
the VPA. The notorious law was finally repealed in 2001 and was replaced by the Vested
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ESH Properties Return Act, with important amendments adopted in 2011 and 2012. Now the
process of implementing this law has begun, with Vested Property Return Tribunals set up
in 61 districts.
A Citizens National Coordination Cell involving 13 rights-based organisations has been established
to coordinate actors and to provide legal assistance and support to victims and affected families.
Its secretariat is housed at ALRD’s offices and provides support to central and regional groups, as
well as maintaining dialogue with the government on the status of implementation and legal
assistance. The GoB is responsible for implementing the VP Return Act and Return Rules but, as
advocates for land rights and access to justice, ALRD and its allies felt it necessary to supplement
government efforts in facilitating the process, monitoring implementation and enforcement,
and providing legal support for victims to gain access to their lost property.
Land and women
Socio-cultural constructs and the patriarchal mindset prevalent across much of Asia mean
that women’s land rights are still on the margins of the mainstream development agenda;
therefore it is crucial to recognise the importance of equitable land rights for women. In
Bangladesh inheritance, especially of agricultural land, has been predominantly patrilineal.
Men are traditionally seen as the breadwinners in the family, and inheritance of farmland
is often seen as a father-to-son affair. In much of South Asia, cultural norms dictate that
women forego their shares in parental land in favour of brothers or uncles.
Throughout the region, communities are threatened by commercial pressures and land
grabbing, which further reinforce women’s alienation from land. However, in many cases
women have played a pioneering role in protecting agricultural land for food production
rather than for commercial use. ALRD will advocate for the recognition of women as farmers
and for recognition of their tenurial rights, equal property rights, and secure access to natural
resources, including land. ALRD, together with ILC members and partners, will continue to
build the capacity of women’s groups by training and sharing knowledge, to call for laws
to give them access to public khas land. As well as recognition for women as farmers, it
will demand support and protection for collective farming and a khas land recovery law,
and will launch a campaign for the inclusion of land issues in political parties’ election
manifestos. NES platform members and CSO partners will organise seminars, consultations,
and dialogue with policy-makers, launch media mobilisation campaigns, submit demands
to members of parliament, and press for public hearings on these issues.
Indigenous peoples development policy focusing on recognition of customary land rights
Activation of Land Dispute Resolution Commission in CHT
The Land Dispute Resolution Commission (LDRC) is seen as an important instrument
in resolving the decades-long conflict in the CHT region. The law that established the
LDRC was passed in 2001, but it needs amendment to make it effective, as demanded by
representatives of the region’s IPs and by Commission members themselves. ILC members
and partners will undertake to lobby and advocate for a functioning LDRC in order to
achieve a speedy resolution of land disputes in the CHT.
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ESHEstablishment of a national IP commission
With land dispossessions and many other laws and rules that discriminate against them,
there has been a longstanding demand to set up a separate national commission for
plainland IPs. The NES platform will undertake an advocacy campaign at national level for
a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for IPs and the establishment of a national IP commission.
Coordinated mobilisation of civil society, media, and other stakeholders at both national
and zonal levels will be needed to realise this objective.
Establishing a multi-stakeholder land platform for monitoring land governance and corruption
A multi-stakeholder platform will be formed under the NES to monitor land governance and
land-related corruption. TIB will take primary responsibility for this, although mechanisms
have yet to be designed. The platform will bring together other relevant stakeholder groups
and will function autonomously beyond the NES period.
At the first meeting of the national platform, members resolved to develop a memorandum
setting out the coalition’s goals, which is currently in draft form but is expected to be ratified
and endorsed at its next meeting. ILC members and partners will design appropriate strategies
to monitor all land-related malpractice and flaws in the land governance system and will bring
public pressure to bear through campaigns, consultations, meetings, and other activities. The
coalition will produce a land governance status report at the end of the project period.
Implementation of the NESILC members and partners have overall responsibility for implementing the NES. However, at
country level, members and partners will take the lead, with ALRD serving as the secretariat
and the institutional anchor for the implementation of activities. As described in the draft
memorandum, a committee will be formed consisting of the ILC members in Bangladesh,
with ALRD acting as focal point. This committee will have the capacity to co-opt relevant
actors to take part in its meetings, depending on the issue at hand and emerging needs.
As activities will largely be driven by advocacy, the mobilisation of stakeholders, including
like-minded CSOs and the media, will play a key role in their implementation. Dialogue and
engagement on the basis of hard facts and well-researched documentation will form the
key pillar of advocacy activities.
Concerted efforts are needed by all relevant stakeholders to mobilise to protect the land
rights of poor and marginalised communities, articulate their aspirations for socio-economic
development, and conduct advocacy to bring about concrete changes in their favour. ILC
members and partners are well placed to act as a mouthpiece and a catalyst to articulate
the voices of marginalised and disadvantaged communities. ILC’s international network,
linkages with a wide range of stakeholders, expertise in advocacy, and technical expertise on
global issues related to land governance and agrarian reforms will be vital in complementing
advocacy and campaign work undertaken by its members and partners in Bangladesh.
These organisations thus have the organisational focus and required resources, including
technical expertise and an in-depth understanding of the relevant issues, and are well
placed to engage relevant stakeholders to advocate for and uphold the rights of poor and
marginalised communities to land and natural resources.
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ESH Monitoring and reporting
ALRD, as the coordinating organization for the Bangladesh NES, will monitor activities and
will provide periodic and annual reports to ILC as per the grant agreements. ILC members
and partners in Bangladesh will meet periodically to review progress of the implementation
of the NES and will undertake requisite measures based on these reviews.
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ESHAction plan: activities and partners
Area of intervention Intended outcome Activities Overall activities Responsibility
Formation of national-
level land coalition/
alliance/platform
Establish priority
issues and agree on
implementation plan
Regular coordination
meetings and sharing
of information
Five meetings at national
and zonal levels
ALRD, ARBAN, CDA,
and partners1
Land grabbing Reduce incidences
of land grabbing/
acquisition of agricultural
and forest land
Policy dialogue/round
tables; grassroots
mobilisation;
documentation of
legal cases (writs, court
cases, public interest
litigation)
Three mobilisation
workshops/rallies/
campaigns
Legal interventions
(writs, court cases, public
interest litigation)
ARBAN, CDA, and
partnersALRD and
members
Establishment of
multi-stakeholder land
platform for monitoring
land governance and
corruption
Establish effective
coordination mechanism.
Develop and sustain
status report on land
governance
Coordination/sharing
meeting; workshop
Consultation
Meeting
TIB as lead. Other
members: ALRD,
ILC members and
partners, and non-
ILC members
Effective land use policy
and laws to protect
agricultural and forest
land and food security
Draft pro-poor
agriculture land use
policy/law
Consultation,
meetings,workshop,
policy dialogue,
mobilisation, and
awareness raising on
the VGGT
Three consultations/
dialogues/workshops on
the VGGT at national level
Mobilisation on the VGGT:
mass gatherings and
awareness raising at zonal
level
ALRD, ARBAN, CDA,
and partners
Climate change Increase resilience to
secure land rights for
poor and marginalised
people in the face of
climate change through
government and non-
government initiatives
Seminar and
workshop; knowledge-
sharing events;
awareness building
and dissemination of
shared learning
Three seminars/
workshops (one national,
two zonal)
ARBAN, members,
and partners
Implementation/
enforcement of Vested
Properties Return Act,
2011
Implement VP Return
Act: more than 500,000
victim families claiming
and entering into legal
process
Provide administrative
support to central
and regional groups,
hold dialogue with
government on status
of implementation,
provide legal
assistance
Legal interventions/
support to victims
ALRD and members
Land and women Make steps towards
policy changes on
khas land distribution,
demand for legislation
and collective farming,
etc.
Consultations with civil
society and policy-
makers, dialogue,
seminars, public
hearings
Three mobilisation
activities: seminar/
dialogue (1+2)
Submission of demand
letter to all constituents/
MPs /public hearing
ARBAN, members,
and partners
Indigenous peoples
development policy,
focusing on recognition
of customary land rights
Activate Land Dispute
Resolution Commission
in Chittagong Hill Tracts;
strengthen demand for
establishment of national
IP commission
Policy dialogue; media
campaign on Special
Economic Zone (SEZ);
promotion of national
IP commission
Workshop on national SEZ
for IPs
Two zonal workshops on
promoting national IP
commission
ALRD (national)
ARBAN and CDA
(zonal)
Capacity building and
publications
Capacity building is an
integral part of each of
the stated issues
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ESH ANNEX 1
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Workshop on National Engagement Strategy, Held on 7 and 8 April, 2012
Ms. Sohely Rahman - MSUS Rajbari
Ms. Shahana Hayat - VSO, Bangladesh
Ms. Nadira Parvin - CCDB
S. Mosaddeque Hossain - DIP, Bangladesh
Adv. MahafuzaAkter - Surdarbon Grameen
Bohumukhi Unnayan Prokolpo
PhanindraSangma - Caritas, Dhaka
Dr. Uttam Kumar Das - SAILS, Dhaka
Nazmul Hasan Mittu - SAP, Bangladesh
Ms. Altafunnessa - Gonoshasthaya Kendra
Tufique Mohiuddin - TIB, Dhaka -
A.F.M. Azim Uddin - CIRDAP, Dhaka
Afzal Hussain - FULFAO, Rajshahi
Dr. Rowshan Ara - Professor, Dhaka University
Liton Sen - ALRD
Zahid Hossain - UNDP, Dhaka
ANM Fazlul Hadi Sabbir - BFF, Faridpur
Ms. Rokeya Rafiqu - Karmajibi Nari
Muhammad Kamal Uddin - ARBAN, Dhaka
Ms. Naoshin Afroz - Eminence, Dhaka
Md. Zahangir Alam - BARCIK, Dhaka
Md. Mizanur Rahman - Law Ministry
Mojibur Rahman - SDS, Sharitpur
SK. Faruque Ahammed - BRAC
Md. Azharul Islam Khan - BIDS, Dhaka
Md. Monirul Islam - INCIDIN, Bangladesh
Nma A. Jensen - Embassy of Denmark
Dr. Madiodio Niasse - ILC, Italy
Ms. Seema Gaikwad - ILC Asia
Dr. Iftekharuzzaman - TIB
Ms. RowshanJahan Moni - ALRD
Ms. Farah Kabir - ActionAid, Bangladesh
Ms. Farhana Ferdous - ALRD, Dhaka
Zakir Hossain - Nagorik Uddyog
Amit Ranjan Day - Nagorik Uddyog
Ms. Helen Nanzeen - ALRD
H.M. Nazrul Islam - Embassy of Denmark
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ESH
AHM Shamsul Islam Dipu - Speed Trust, Barisal
Shah-I-Mobin Jinnah - CDA, Dinajpur
SohelIbn Ali - Embassy of Switzerland
Mahbubul Islam - Dipshikha
Taslim Uddin - DMUS, Jamalpur
Ms. Nasrin Begum - BNPS, Dhaka
Md. Sayaduzzaman - GRAUS - Mymensingh
Masuda Shirin - CDA, Dinajpur
Ms. Rehana Khan - Embassy of Sweden
Abdul Majid Mallik - Freelance Consultant
Shibli Anowar - Labour Resource Center
Ms. RahelaRabbani - Karmajibi Nari
Shamsher Ali - Action Aid, Dhaka
Younus Ali - SB
Zahidul Islam Biswas - BLAST, Dhaka
Subal Sarker - BBS, Dhaka
Iqbal Uddin - RDRS, Dhaka
M. Taher Uddin - HDRC -
Masud Ali - INCIDIN, Bangladesh
Tahmid Huq Easher - SEHD, Dhaka
Antonio B. Quizon - Asian NGO Coalition
Saifuddin Ahmed - SUPRO, Dhaka
Adv. Syeda Rizwana Hasan - BELA
Shamsul Huda - ALRD
Rezanur Rahman - Nijera Kori
Partners are those intended to be involved in the implementation depending on the nature
of activities and issues. They may be CBOs, ALRD partners & network members, ILC and non ILC members.
The contents of this work may be freely reproduced, translated, and distributed provided that
attribution is given to the International Land Coalition, and the article’s authors and organisation.
Unless otherwise noted, this work may not be utilised for commercial purposes.
For more information, please contact [email protected]
or go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0
Edited by David Wilson. Design by Federico Pinci.
Printed on recycled/FSC paper.
ILC is a membership-based network, opinions expressed in this document are the result of
a national multi-stakeholder process and therefore its contents can in no way be taken to
refl ect the offi cial views and/or position of ILC, its members or donors. The ILC Secretariat
would appreciate receiving copies of any publication using this study as a source at
ISBN: 978-92-95105-11-9
ILC wishes to thank the following donors, whose support made this research possible:
ILC's National Engagement Strategy
NES Promoting people centred land governance
BANGLADESH
International Land Coalition Secretariat at IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 , 00142 - Rome, Italy
tel. +39 06 5459 2445 fax +39 06 5459 3445 [email protected] | www.landcoalition.org
ILC Mission
A global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to
promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men.
ILC Vision
Secure and equitable access to and control over land reduces poverty and contributes to
identity, dignity, and inclusion.
Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD)
Contact: Shamsul Huda, Executive Director
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.alrd.org
Association For Realization Of Basic Needs (ARBN)
Website: www.facebook.com/mis.arban.org
Community Development Association (CDA)
Contact: Mr. Eko Cahyono
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.cdamyanmar.org
