50 In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries Land conflicts in the CHT region The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region is the principal home of the country’s indigenous peoples. Here, land administration is a blend of unwritten customary laws and State laws. Practicing customary land-rights in line with the State’s laws creates problems in the land-use patterns of the indigenous peoples. Fierce clashes, killings, rape, abduction, arbitrary arrests, detentions and eviction of indigenous people are common incidents in CHT region due mainly to conflicts over land. From January to June 2018, at least 70 incidents of human rights violations against indigenous peoples, both in the plain lands and CHT region have been reported (UNPO, 2018). Some 209 indigenous persons from 125 families, including 12 children and 23 women and girls, have been subjected to violence (UNPO, 2018). Following the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord in 19972, the government formed the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission to settle land disputes in the region. But it is still ineffective due to lack of rules and mechanisms. Roughly 30,000 applications are now pending with the land commission to settle disputes over land (Prothom Alo, 2018). Due to non-resolution of land disputes, land grabbing, eviction, and ethnic conflicts are frequently taking place in CHT and plain lands, which negatively affect the lives and livelihoods of indigenous communities. The conflicts among different political groups in the CHT over establishing supremacy have left an estimated 600 people killed since the signing of the Peace Accord in 1997 (Rahman, 2008). The table below details the types of human rights violations experienced by indigenous peoples in the CHT and plain lands. Table 3: Human rights violations against indigenous people over land disputes ANGOC Types of human rights violation against indigenous people 2 2015-June 2018 Total CHT Plain lands Number of houses burnt to ashes 237 1,247 1,484 Number of houses looted and ransacked 115 91 206 Number of persons assaulted and injured 13 133 146 Number of persons killed 02 07 09 Against the backdrop of two decades of insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the Peace Accord was signed between the State-led National Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Parbatta Chattagram Janasanghati Samity (PCJSS), the political wing of the separatist rebels, on 2 December 1997.