Chimbuk Marriott

What is affected

Communal

Type of violation

Demolition/destruction
Dispossession/confiscation

Date

13 September 2020

Region

A [ Asia ]

Country

Bangladesh

Location

Kaprupara, Dolapara, Erapara and Chimbuk Pahar in Nilgiri, between “Nilgiri” and Chimbuk, in Bandarban district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Affected persons

	Total 10000
	Men 0
	Women 0
	Children 0

Proposed solution

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission is proposing the following recommendations:

· The proposed hotel project in the Chimbuk-Thanchi route should be immediately abandoned and a more appropriate location acceptable to the local community be identified for tourist project in consultation with local stakeholders as well as the CHT Regional Council and the Bandarban Hill District Council.

· The Land Commission must be made functional, provided with all necessary resources, so that it can begin the work of resolving all land disputes in the CHT, including through the passage of the CHT Land Commission Rules, as advised by the CHT Regional Commission.

· In the meantime, all land leases for commercial purposes should be put on hold until the Land Commission resolves all land related disputes in the CHT, including regarding the leases granted to non-resident individuals, organizations and other corporate bodies, for rubber plantations, horticulture and establishment of industries.

· Where land acquisition is essential for the interest of the public, no land should be taken in addition to the amount of land necessary for the purpose required, and for public purposes.

· The people whose land will be taken through acquisition should be provided with appropriate compensation, alternative land, and complete rehabilitation.

· The compensation and rehabilitation of all evicted families should be taken into consideration during land acquisition, especially in case of the land of the hill people who do not have any government documents, though they have customary land rights.

· Tourism-related construction projects should not be undertaken without the consultation with, and the free, prior and informed consent of, the concerned communities, and of the CHT Region Council and the Hill District Councils.

· All the clauses to the 1997 CHT Accord should be implemented in full and without any further delay.

Details

Development

Demolition/destruction

Land losses

- Land area (square meters)

- Total value

Duty holder(s) /responsible party(ies)

	State
	24th Division and the 69th Brigade of Bangladesh Army, Army Welfare Trust, and R&R Holdings Limited

Brief narrative

Adapted from the International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission statement of 2 November 2020

Displacement of Mro people from several villages by the reportedly upcoming new five-star hotel in Bandarban and calls for immediate cancellation of the project and selection of more community-secure sites based on Free Prior and Informed Consent for any tourism projects in the Chittagong Hill Tracts The construction of a five-star hotel in the Chimbuk-Thanchi area of the Bandarban district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) will directly displace poor Mro villagers from three villages around the project site and threaten to displace villagers from three other villages. The affected Mro villagers has mounted numerous protests, both formally and in street demonstrations, including “cultural showdowns,” demanding cancellation of a project to establish a five-star hotel and amusement park at Bandarban’s Chandrapahar, popularly known as Chimbuk. The 24th Division and the 69th Brigade of Bangladesh Army, the Army Welfare Trust and R&R Holdings Limited, a concern of Sikder Group, are jointly implementing this project to construct the Marriott Hotel and Amusement Park in Nilgiri, between “Nilgiri” and Chimbuk, in Bandarban. The hotel and amusement park would be on the ChimbukThanchi route, 47 kilometres southeast of Bandarban district town, and the facility is being built under a 35-year lease and profit-sharing agreement between the Army Welfare Trust and R&R Holdings Limited. A petition to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from Mro villagers residing in Kaprupara, Dolapara, Erapara and Chimbuk Pahar calling for a halt to this construction. The Mro people have pointed out that the proposed construction will directly displace poor Mro villagers from the three villages and threaten to displace villagers from five other villages. The Mros of Bandarban have already lost a lot of land in Bandarban, and the construction of this hotel will further add to their loss.

The land in question is held under customary law, by the people of the mauza, for their own use. Transfer of such land to any individual or corporate entity can only take place in accordance with the CHT Regulation 1900, to be read with the Bandarban Hill District Council Act 1989 (as amended in 1998), which incorporates the customs, practices and usages of the peoples and communities of the areas concerned These have been expressly recognized by post-CHT Accord laws, including the CHT Regulation (Amendment) Act 2003 and the CHT Land Commission Act 2001 (as amended in 2016). This massive corporate project is being undertaken in Bandarban when the CHT Land Commission is yet to begin functioning and resolve land disputes in the area. The most important priority for the government in the CHT under the 1997 CHT Accord is to ensure that all land-related disputes be resolved before leasing any land, including for tourism-related and other externally conceived, owned and implemented projects.

Even after the resolution of land disputes, any further leasing of land for tourism purposes needs to be processed through the Hill District Council and CHT Regional Council as per the CHT Accord, in addition to the usual process of obtaining the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of the concerned community, through the medium of the concerned village karbaris and mauza headmen. Land grabbing in Bandarban in the name of corporate tourism and other profit-making businesses has been going on for many years now. In addition to that, according to the 1997 CHT Accord, the military in the CHT should have removed all its temporary camps from the entire region apart from the six main garrisons. Instead of pulling away from the CHT the military seems to be expanding its presence through various interventions, including “security reasons” and tourist projects, and getting even more involved in civil administration matters than it is expected and mandated to be so doing, after the conclusion of the CHT Accord of 1997. Several allegations have been levelled against the military of occupying lands in Bandarban and elsewhere in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, without adhering to the terms of the 1997 CHT Accord and without showing concern for the consequences of their actions on the local Jumma villagers and their right to land and livelihood. Moreover, most, if not all such actions are alleged to be in violation of the concerned laws, including the CHT Land Acquisition Regulation, 1958, the CHT Regulation, 1900 and the Hill Districts Councils Acts, 1989 (Acts 19, 20 and 21 of 1989), along with the customs, practices and usages as recognized under the aforesaid laws. In this case, the Army Welfare Trust is also collaborating with a controversial corporate company, R&R Holdings Limited (Sikder Group), to construct the five-star hotel, which has harsh, long-term consequences for the lives and livelihoods of the indigenous people living in Bandarban, particularly the Mro. Neither the military authorities nor the Sikder Group (including R&R Holdings) has the right, title, sufficient interest to enable it to engage in tourism activities of the nature envisaged.

Besides the main hotel building, the completed project will accommodate 12 separate villas and modern cable cars to facilitate tourists’ travel from one hill to another. It features various kinds of amusement facilities, including rides and swimming pools.

Reports of the Bandarban Hill District Council having transferred the necessary title and/or interest, in the form of consent, or otherwise, to the military and/or Sikder Group or its affiliates, have no legal basis because the Council does not have the legal title to the concerned land, and can provide consent only in the case of a valid title.

Informal reports from reliable sources suggest that, as recently as of 29–30 October 2020, members of security forces have been threatening the mauza headmen and other traditional leaders of the area with an ultimatum to provide their recommendations and other support, forthwith, in favor of the concerned project, or face dire consequences. The security forces stationed in the CHT are mandated to maintain security in the region and to implement the provisions of the CHT Accord of 1997. They do not have the mandate to engage in commercial activities, including tourism, in alliance with private corporations, or otherwise. This is a conflict of interest, and contrary to the Constitution of Bangladesh, the laws of the CHT and international human rights norms. Bangladesh is bound to fulfill its International Law obligations, including ILO Convention 107 on Indigenous and Tribal Populations, which Bangladesh has ratified, as well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These human rights instruments clearly provide that indigenous and tribal peoples must not be removed from their lands without their free, prior, and informed consent. One year after the Mros’ long march in Bandarban, has anything changed? (1 Apr 2022); What is happening to the land of the Mro people? (18 Dec 2021); Bangladesh: Mro community stages demonstration in capital Dhaka to demand cancellation of tourist development (3 Mar 2021)

Mros prefer death to ‘development’ in Bandarban (2 Mar 2021)

UN calls for immediate suspension of tourism resort construction threatening to dispossess Mro people of their lands (9 Feb 2021);

Hundreds of Mro community members march to Bandarban town in protest of five-star hotel project threatening their culture and livelihood (7 Feb 2021);

Construction of hotel in Chimbuk Hill: Hundreds of Mros take part in long march (7 Feb 2021);

R&R Holdings Ltd. did not respond (20 Jan 2021);

Response from Marriott International (19 Jan 2021)

Rights activists: Luxury hotel project in Bandarban unjust and illegal (12 Dec 2020); Eminent citizens demand cancellation of Marriott hotel project in Bandarban (12 Dec 2020);

Bangladesh: Statement issued against illegal construction of Marriott resort without prior informed consent from Mro community (17 Nov 2020);

Marriott hotel construction in Bandarban against laws (17 Nov 2020);

চিম্বুক পাহাড়ে ম্রোদের গ্রামে আতঙ্ক (13 Nov 2020);

The bloody view from the resort in the hills (13 Nov 2020);

Cultural Showdown (8 Nov 2020)

Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission statement (2 Nov 2020); Work on 5-star Marriott Hotel and Amusement Park begins at Nilgiri (13 Sep 2020).

Costs

€ 0

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