Speakers at an event yesterday stressed the need to recognise and protect indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge, land rights and cultural heritage, saying indigenous women play a central role in preserving and passing on such knowledge across generations. They made the remarks at a discussion and cultural programme organised by the Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network and Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum at the Liberation War Museum in Agargaon, marking International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2026. She called for recognition and protection of the collective and individual rights of indigenous peoples and women in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and international human rights standards. “Civil society organisations should help promote, preserve and disseminate such knowledge and support indigenous peoples’ rights,” she said. Stronger links between the indigenous women’s movement and the mainstream women’s rights movement could strengthen the broader struggle for women’s rights, she added.