Menschenrechte und Minderheiten in Bangladesch

Abstract Bangladesh is the only country of the Third World which was founded after a liberation war between one ethnic group and another long after the decoloniz- ation process had been completed. The country was forced to suffer through a number of military coups d'dtat, the last of which brought General Moh.Ershad to power. The present paper investigates recent developments andtheir roots in the Chittagong Hill Tracts where Buddhist minorities increasingly became the victims of human rights violations committed by various governments. Among some of the human rights violations which took place in the Tracts and in other parts of the country were political trials, torture and arbitrary killings ; particular attention is paid to the legal system. The inherent tension between the necessity to develop a country which has to meet basic human needs for millions of inhabitants and which should be able to tolerate people dissenting from govemment views, and ensure the basic rights for a minority outside the national society is discussed. Peaceful sol- utions which satisfy conflicting interests are felt to be extremely urgent.