Marginalised communities deprived of access to govt services: TIB study

Marginalised communities in Bangladesh have less access to government services due to their backgrounds, with difficulties arising even when they file complaints of not receiving the required services.

The poor accountability structures of government institutions and existing limitations in the legal framework are the major reasons behind the inability to ensure services in education, health, land, relief for marginal communities, says a research conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh. 

The research titled "Access of marginalised communities to public services: an assessment of accountability mechanisms" found that "racist behaviour" towards members of such communities were not resolved, especially by classmates and teachers in school.

The findings of the qualitative study were published in a virtual press conference on Thursday. The study was conducted from October 2020 to September 2021.

Some selected marginalised groups were included in the study, which took into account victims of violence, their livelihoods, caste-based minorities, ethnic identity, geographical location, gender, etc.

Among these categories, data was collected from acid survivors, Dalit, indigenous peoples, tea garden workers, and transgender people.

"There is a lack of data and ambiguity about marginalised populations. These are the big challenges to mainstreaming them," Iftekharuzzaman, executive director, TIB, said.

"There are social and institutional arrangements for providing services and for filing complaints. Marginalised people, however, are often deprived of access to those services because those are not inclusive. The people are then prevented from making complaints and thus do not seek redress," he added.

He said the research found that some local people's representatives and officials act as obstructions as their perception of marginalised people was often negative.

"The supervision of the complaint system is not integrated. People from indigenous communities have filed written complaints about education, land and social security programs by appearing at the relevant offices. But due to their identities, there are instances of complaints not being recorded and followed up on," Iftekharuzzaman said. 

In another instance, the study found that access to services and accountability structures of healthcare institutions was hampered if one had a Dalit identity.

In one of the surveys, it was revealed that not a single pregnant mother from the area's Dalit community had gone to the government hospital for delivery-related services.

Out of the pregnant women in the community, 98% had cesarean births. Although the facility was present in the Upazila Health Complex, which was cheaper there than private clinics, Dalit families still avoided going there.

Elsewhere, transgender people were not allowed to stand in line for the government's relief assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

When they wanted to complain to the elected representatives about this, the staff of the ward commissioner's office did not let them do that.

Other social security programmes also had similar examples.

In the context of not being registered in the old age allowance even after paying bribes and not being able to lodge a complaint, speaking at the programme, one person from the Dalit community said there was no one to complain to as those in authority belonged to the same political party.

"I am a Dalit; I cannot fight with these mainstream people. It's like fighting a crocodile in the water."

Some recommendations were presented in the study including, enacting the anti-discrimination act; making arrangements to receive and record verbal grievances from the people concerned and to follow up on those regularly; holding regular public hearings on land issues of indigenous people; reserving representation for marginalised communities in various organisations, including local government bodies.

Bangladesh is home to at least 30 million marginalised people who are almost ostracised based on race, religious identity, caste, ethnicity, occupation, and different trait-based identities, according to information available in the study. 

The Bangladesh Eighth Five-Year Plan identified marginalised groups, which includes children, indigenous, Dalit, extremely poor, female and male sex workers, people living with HIV / AIDS, transgender, and persons with disabilities considering different risks faced by them.

Md Mostafa Kamal, research associate, Qualitative, Research and Policy, TIB was the key presenter in the event.