PM Urges UN To Play Vital Role In Restoring Global Peace

Expressing her grave concern over volatile global security situation and emergence of religious militancy and violent extremism, she said the volatile global security situation continues to pose significant challenge to international development.

Sheikh Hasina said, "Threat to peace anywhere is a threat for entire humanity. We cannot achieve sustainable development in the absence of durable peace and security."

Addressing the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh strongly believes in the centrality and legitimacy of the UN as the custodian of global peace, security and development.

Sheikh Hasina said terrorism and extremism remain major impediments to global peace and development. Bangladesh maintains a 'zero-tolerance' policy to all forms of terrorism, violent extremism, radicalisation and religion-based politics, she said.

"We remain firm in our resolve not to allow any terrorist individual or entity to use our territory against any state," she added.

Saying that anti-liberation forces continue to remain active in destroying the progressive and secular fabric of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, the evil forces resorted to religious militancy and violent extremism in every opportunity.

Sheikh Hasina said her government remains pledge-bound to bring to justice the culprits of war crimes in 1971 to uphold peace and rule of law and end a culture of impunity.

The highly transparent, impartial and independent International Crimes Tribunals (ICT) of Bangladesh have already completed trials of a few key criminals who perpetrated heinous crimes against humanity during our Liberation War in 1971.

"We look towards international community's full appreciation of the aspirations of our people for this long-awaited justice," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh government is entrenching democracy, secularism and women empowerment to ideologically defeat terrorism and extremism.

"We have also significantly enhanced transparency and accountability in governance by strengthening our Election, Anti-Corruption, Human Rights and Information Commissions," she said.

She said, Bangladesh's commitment to international peace has manifested through proposal of Bangladesh 'Culture of Peace and Non-violence" and later adopted by the 68th session of the UNGA.

"Our peace leadership is further reaffirmed through our support to the UN as a top troops and police contributing country in its peacekeeping missions," she said.

Bangladesh has so far contributed 128,133 peacekeepers in 54 UN peace missions. Bangladesh contributed the highest number of women police to UN peacekeeping commensurate with our women empowerment credentials, she said.

Focusing on the militants' extremism in the local politics, Sheikh Hasina said, the militants and terrorists under the direct patronage of the BNP-Jamaat Alliance Government during their 2001- 2006 regime, coalesced to form terrorist outfits.

Those militant groups perpetrated bomb and grenade attacks killing secular political leaders and activists, she said adding the gruesome attacks cemented my resolve to create a strong legal and regulatory regime for countering terrorism including adoption of amended Anti-Terrorism Act 2013 and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2012.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said four decades back, Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in his maiden speech at the UNGA, espoused his vision for a global order.

In that speech Bangabandhu had said that Bengali nation is pledge-bound to establish a global order based on peaceful co-existence, social justice and freedom from poverty, hunger, exploitation and aggression.

"The great leader's vision continues to guide Bangladesh's national development pursuits and our engagement in the global affairs," the Prime Minister said.

Sheikh Hasina said the 69th session of the UNGA is being held at a time when the global development discourse is at an important juncture, as the implementation of MDGs approaches its deadline and the global community is engaged in framing a transformative development agenda for 2016-2030.

Pointing out her government's people-centric vision to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based, technology-driven Middle Income Country by 2021, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh government has integrated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into the national five-year plans and 'Vision 2021' to achieve the goal.

She highlighted Bangladesh's success in attaining MDGs saying Bangladesh has already met or, is on track to meet MDG-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Poverty has been reduced from 57% in 1991 to below 25%.

During the last five years, she said, average GDP growth remained 6.2% despite global recession, export earnings grown up more than 3 times from around US$10.53 billion in 2006 to over US$ 30.5 billion last fiscal.

Remittance flow also increased nearly three times from US$ 5 billion in 2006 to US$ 14.5 billion while foreign reserve jumped by 6.5-fold from US$ 3.49 billion in 2006 to US $ 22 billion at present, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said, Bangladesh has undertaken some massive infrastructure and connectivity projects in order to unlock development potentials. The projects include a 6.15 km bridge over the mighty river Padma with own resources, development of a Deep Sea Port in Sonadia, Chittagong. Upgrading the road and rail infrastructures, including expressways and river tunnels, is underway, she said.

In this regard, the Prime Minister mentioned agreements signed with friendly countries- India, China and Japan - to develop large scale power plants to meet our growing demands by 2021.

She said, eighteen Economic Zones (EZs) are being developed across the country to allow potential investors to invest in Bangladesh especially in the context of our growing integration into the regional connectivity framework.

Bangladesh enjoys a clear demographic dividend with two-thirds young employable workforce to remain economically active till 2031. It is a policy imperative for us to invest in skill development of our increasingly younger population.

Sheikh Hasina said the government has taken initiatives for rapid infrastructure development and people's capability building in contemporary ICTs to establish a knowledge-based society.

She said people are receiving over 200 types of services from over 4,500 Union Services and Information Centers (USIC). Rural people are getting access to health care services from over 15,000 IT-connected Community Health Clinics and Union Health Centers.

These networks allowing people get various crucial public services at their doorstep at affordable cost. Bangladesh has 117 million SIMs with more than 78% tele-penetration and 50 million internet connections, she said.

The Prime Minister said Bangladesh is striving to reach the MDG targets of ensuring universal primary school enrolment and gender parity in primary and secondary schools. The Government is providing students with free education up to 12th grade, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said about 12.8 million students of poor families are getting monthly stipend while about 7.8 million primary-level students and four million students from secondary to graduate level are enjoying government education support.

Seventy-five percent of total girl students are covered by the government stipend while the government is also distributing 318 million textbooks for free among students up to the secondary level at the beginning of every academic year, she said.

The Prime Minister said her government has now focused on improving the quality of education to enable the boys and girls to acquire necessary life skills and grow up with a truly global outlook.

For us, sustainable development entails empowerment of women and their equal participation with men, in all walks of life. "Our efforts to promote women's empowerment by enhancing their access to productive resources and representation in national and local levels are producing visible results," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said pragmatic policies of her government have helped women leadership grow from the grassroots to the top-most levels. Bangladesh is possibly the only country under UN system, where women simultaneously are holding the positions of Prime Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader, she said.

She said ten percent of posts for women are reserved in judicial, administrative, civil service and in the armed forces and law enforcement agencies while 60% of posts of primary school teachers are reserved for women.

With a view to ensuring equality, the government is running numerous social safety net programmes covering more than 24 percent of population, mostly women, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said persons with other disabilities are provided with education, skill development and interest-free credit for self-employment. In the formal sector, one percent quota has been reserved for them.

Terming the MDGs as the most successful global anti-poverty push in history, the Prime Minister said the world witnesses 50 percent less poverty than it did in 1990 due to MDGs. More girls are going to schools, lesser number of children are dying and more people having access to safe drinking water and sanitation, she said.

However, the progress has been uneven and unequal within and among countries and regions. "Sadly, over 1.3 billion people still live in abject poverty," she lamented.

Urging the world leaders to keep the issue of eradication of poverty at the centre of post-2015 Development Agenda, the Prime Minister said the new framework must secure a balance of the three pillars of sustainable development, particularly being mindful of the need for access, unique circumstances and diverse needs of countries like Bangladesh.

She expressed her happiness for recommendation of the Open-ended Working Group for a set of inter-linked Goals and Targets through a rigorous, widely inclusive process.

"In Bangladesh, we had wider national consultations and remained intensely engaged in the global process," she said adding, "We consider the set of Goals and Targets would be carefully-balanced package and crucial basis for the Post-2015 Development Agenda."

"The future Development Agenda must meaningfully address the long-standing resource and capacity constraints of the low-income developing countries and respond to the emerging risks and vulnerabilities," the Prime Minister said.

She said the Post-2015 development framework must fulfill our aspirations of building an equitable, prosperous and sustainable world where no person or nation is left behind. It must also contribute to a strengthened multilateralism, go beyond national policy space and forge international collaboration.

Sheikh Hasina said greater resources would be key to the success of the Post-2015 Agenda. There is a need for a robust and broad-based global partnership, based on the principles of mutual trust and respect, common but differentiated responsibility.

Bangladesh would particularly stress on a clear resolve on financing of sustainable development by next year, particularly from the Financing for Development process, she said adding that it is encouraging that some of the developed countries have fulfilled their commitment of contributing 0.7% of their GNI and 0.2% of GNI as ODA to the LDCs, most others still remain to fulfill their commitments.

Laying importance on extending greater support to least developed and climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh with regards to ODA, the Prime Minister said they require greater support for science-technology-innovation and capacity-building. All products from all LDCs must be granted duty-free and quota-free access to all developed country markets, she said.

She called for inclusion of the global migration issue in the post-2015 Development Agenda saying the world today is witnessing unprecedented human mobility, within and beyond borders and Bangladesh has emerged as a key stakeholder in global migration.

"We need to acknowledge manifold contribution that migrants and their families make to our economies and societies apart from mere remittance. Therefore, it is logical for migration and development to find deserving space across the emerging Post-2015 framework," she said.

On the impending challenge of climate change, the Prime Minister said, "No challenge is as complex, widespread and formidable as climate change to countries like ours."

Referring to a recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, she said, the report estimated the mean economic cost of climate change and adaptation for Bangladesh to be between 2% and 9% of GDP by 2100.

"One degree Celsius increase in temperature is estimated to a meter rise of the sea-level, submerging a fifth of Bangladesh. That might force thirty million of our people to move elsewhere as "climate migrants", she said adding for Bangladesh, climate change is a matter of bare existence.

In addressing climate change, Sheikh Hasina said, adaptation remains particularly key for us. "We have a crucial need for adequate, predictable and additional climate finance, access to locally-adaptable technologies, and support to capacity and institution-building," she said.

Urging the world leaders to recognise the untapped potential of the ocean- based Blue Economy, the Prime Minister said, the coastal and small island developing states may stand to benefit much through balanced conservation, development and utilization of marine eco-systems, resources and services.

She called for global support to coastal countries like Bangladesh in developing much-needed capacity, technology, institutional frameworks to tap into 'Blue opportunities'. "We thus continue to support incorporation of Blue Economy principles and practices in the Post-2015 framework," she said.

Sheikh Hasina thanked the UN for adoption of Bangladesh's flagship resolution at the UNESCO in 1999 recognizing "21 February as the 'International Mother Language Day".

She said Bangladesh has established the world's lone 'International Mother Language Institute' in Dhaka to preserve more than 6500 mother-tongues of humanity.

"These are two pillars of our commitment to mother language," she said reiterating her call to the august assembly to recognize Bangla, spoken by more than 300 million people across the world, as an official language of the UN.

The Prime Minister expressed her full solidarity with the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle for self-determination. She condemned the systematic killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, by Israel during the recent offensive in Gaza.

She also sought a permanent solution to this longstanding conflict through the creation of an independent and viable state of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders and with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital.

Sheikh Hasina said, Bangladesh is celebrating forty years of its membership in the UN. On the occasion, "we reaffirm our commitment to work together" to create a world free from poverty, hunger, war and sufferings- which Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appealed in his maiden speech in the General Assembly in 1974, she said.

She congratulated Sam Kutesa for being elected President of the 69th session of the General Assembly and Ambassador John Ashe and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for their stewardship on the way to realizing common vision for a world of peace, dignity, and well-being for all.

-Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)
Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol