AIPP’s congratulatory message to new EMRIP member Mr. Dhamai

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) would like to congratulate Mr. Binota Moy Dhamai for his new appointment as a member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) for 2020 – 2022. The decision was made by the United Nations Human Rights Council on March 13th, 2020 before the suspension of its 43rd session in Geneva, Switzerland. Binota is a member of the Jumma-Tripura, one of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.

Binota holds more than 18 years of experience in the Indigenous Peoples’ rights movement, network building, campaign and advocacy in the country, Asia region and international forum and carried out many important roles. He is the receipient of United Nations Indigenous Fellowship (2007) at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR). He joined AIPP in 2008 and as a Coordinator, he led the Asia Indigenous Peoples Caucus (2009-2014) to the United Nations Permanent Forum on indigenous issues (UNPFII), and the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) of the UN Human Rights Council. He was also one of the founding members of the Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders (IPHRDs) Network in the Asia region under the Human Rights Campaign and Policy Advoacy (HRCPA) Programme and created platform to increase awareness and support on cases of human rights violations committed against indigenous peoples and their communities. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the Co-representative of the Asia region to the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Coordinating Group (GCG) for the UN High-Level Plenary meeting known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples 2014 to lead the processess which concluded in September 2014 by the UN General Assembly.

Mr. Dhamai is currently serving his second term as an Executive Council Member of AIPP, convenor of the AIPP HRCPA Programme Committee and member of the Environment Programme Committe. He was elected as a Board Member of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2018. He had been actively engaged with Social Movement and Economic Policy Working Group of Economic Social Cultural Rights (ESCR)-Net since 2016.

The mandate of the EMRIP is to provide the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of Indigenous Peoples as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and assist Member States, upon request, in achieving the ends of the Declaration through the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We are confident that he will discharge his duty and responsibilities with commitment and take forward the collective aspirations of Indigenous Peoples. We look forward in collaboration and cooperation with the EMRIP in near future.

We would also like to wish him all the best for his work.  

Gam A. Shimray
Secretary General
16 March 2020

Photo credit: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)