Bangladesh, 2010

I warmly

congratulate Mr. Deiss on his well-deserved election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth

session. I believe his wise and experienced leadership

will bring great success to the Assembly’s proceedings.

I also congratulate Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki for his

laudable contribution as Assembly President in its

sixty-fourth session. I also thank Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon for his tireless service to the United

Nations and to world peace.

Bangladesh is a secular, progressive nation

fulfilling the promise of democracy, good governance,

human rights and the rule of law that were made by my

father — the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest Bengali of all

times — from this podium 36 years ago (see

A/PV.2243). That has also been in consonance with the

objectives of the United Nations, which remains the

last abode where the hopes and aspirations of the

hapless people of the world can be fulfilled.

Bangladesh has also been supporting United

Nations efforts to establish democracy, human rights,

peace and security, as well as taking effective steps to

combat terrorism and external threats worldwide. I,

too, am committed to ensuring this continuity.

Bangladesh has established an international

crimes tribunal to try persons responsible for war

crimes and crimes against humanity, including

genocide, arson and rape, committed during our war of

liberation in 1971 and immediately thereafter. That

action is in accord with the rule of law as reflected in

the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,

which we have ratified and which is aimed at bringing

perpetrators of war crimes, genocide and crimes

against humanity to justice. I believe that only justice

can heal the unforgivable, deadly wrongs of the past.

Here, I sadly recall the evil act of terror on

15 August 1975 that took the life of my father and the

Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman, and 18 members of my family, including my

mother, sisters-in-law and my three brothers, one of

whom was only 10 years old. Even I have been a target

of a series of assassination attempts ever since my

return home from exile in 1981.

The most horrendous period was when our

secular democratic party, the Awami League, was in

opposition, from 2001 to 2006. At that time thousands

of our party workers, supporters and followers of the

religious minority who voted for our secular party were

mercilessly killed in systematic terrorist acts of the

BNP/Jamaat-e-Islami alliance Government. The most

audacious act was the dastardly open grenade attack on

21 August 2004 directed against me at a public rally

being held to protest those terrorist attacks and killings.

By the time a dozen grenades had taken their toll,

24 innocent people, including our party’s Secretary for

Women’s Affairs, Mrs. Ivy Rahman — the wife of our

current President — lay dead, and over 500 people

were seriously injured.

There have also been attempts on members of my

family, but never have we bowed before the forces of

terror. As victims of repeated terrorist attacks, my

family and I know this menace well. Clearly, our

rejection of terrorism is total, as is our determination to

eliminate it in all its forms. I want to unequivocally

state that terrorism will not be allowed on the soil of

Bangladesh, and that is precisely why we are a party to

all terrorism-related United Nations conventions and

accord them our full support.

Our firm policy against terrorism and our love for

peace led me to negotiate the 1997 Chittagong Hill

Tracts Peace Accord, thus ending decades of internal

conflict, and a peaceful resolution of the violent

uprising of our paramilitary border forces in 2009. In

the international sphere, our commitment to peace,

which is essential for development, is reflected in our

unflinching support for United Nations peacekeeping

missions. Since 1988 Bangladesh has sent 97,000

troops to 24 countries as part of 32 such missions. In

that period we have lost the precious lives of 92 valiant

soldiers.

Our present troop contribution has made

Bangladesh number one among countries contributing

troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Sadly, despite that involvement, our presence in the

Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)

15 10-55109

remains negligible, as is our voice in planning

strategies of peacekeeping missions. In all fairness, we

should have proportionate representation in DPKO.

Bangladesh has been adversely affected by global

warming, food insecurity, population displacement and

diminished biodiversity, among other problems, and is

faced with serious threats caused by climate change

and global warming. Although our share of carbon gas

emissions is negligible, we are their worst victim. The

increasing frequency and ferocity of floods, cyclones,

droughts and other natural disasters caused by that

phenomenon continue to create havoc through the lives

lost and the resources destroyed.

Consequently, attaining the Millennium Development

Goals is becoming a more difficult challenge. Climate

migrants are already overcrowding our cities, putting

great stress on our limited infrastructure facilities and

causing social disorder. The situation could become

catastrophic with a one-metre rise in the sea level due

to global warming. That would inundate one quarter of

Bangladesh, impacting 11 per cent of our population

and leading to mass migration.

To meet those challenges, we have adopted a

134-point adaptation and mitigation action plan. Those

points include dredging major rivers to restrict

flooding, recovering cultivable lands for settling

displaced people and increasing capacity to produce

more grain foods. Other plans include afforesting

20 per cent of the land area by 2015, creating a huge

carbon sink; protecting biodiversity; strengthening

coasts and river banks with green belts; modernizing

disaster management with community participation;

developing crop varieties attuned to climate change;

changing agricultural practices; using clean coal

technology; and adopting nuclear power and renewable

energy. Meanwhile, over 14,000 shelters for cyclone

victims have been strategically located to cope with

cyclonic disasters.

Implementing the action plan requires enormous

funds. An immediate measure has been the

establishment of a Climate Change Trust Fund with our

own resources, and a Climate Change Resilience Fund

with assistance from development partners. At the

international level, at the fifteenth Climate Change

Conference of Parties — COP 15 — last year, we

worked hard for a legally binding agreement and for an

international climate fund to assist countries most

vulnerable to climate change. The compromise was the

Copenhagen Accord, which has so far failed to deliver

its promises.

Therefore, I urge the world leaders at the

sixteenth Conference — COP 16 — this year to

conclude, in their wisdom, a positive agreement based

on the Bali Plan of Action, with agreed cuts in

greenhouse gas emissions and real contributions to the

international climate fund. I also urge them to adopt, at

COP 16, measures to ameliorate the adverse impacts of

climate change on the most vulnerable countries, like

Bangladesh, small island developing States like the

Maldives, and landlocked countries like Bhutan and

Nepal, among other least developed countries (LDCs).

The world is yet to recover from the world

economic crisis, and LDCs as well as developed

countries are suffering from reduced exports. Those

crises are due to inequity and injustice resulting from

an unfair international structure, which remains mostly

unchanged. The Bretton Woods institutions must now

accommodate a greater presence of developing

countries, especially least developed countries. While

the Bretton Woods institutions can deal with long-term

development assistance, Bangladesh proposes the

establishment of a special fund under United Nations

auspices to deal exclusively with Special Drawing

Rights and grants. We also propose that all

stakeholders respect country-led ownership of all

development projects, as enshrined in the Accra

Agenda for Action.

The least developed countries surely welcome the

development assistance they receive from developed

countries. They would, however, benefit more through

receiving liberal trade concessions such as duty and

quota-free market access, trade capacity-building, et

cetera. Least developed countries also seek a speedy

end to the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round of

the World Trade Organization trade negotiations and

fulfilment of the commitments by the countries of the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development to provide 0.7 per cent of gross national

income to official development assistance, of which

0.2 per cent will be directed at least developed

countries, as affirmed in the Brussels Programme of

Action.

The least developed countries have also been

affected by unemployment at home and by obstacles to

migration for jobs abroad. Since remittances form a

significant part of their gross domestic product,

10-55109 16

economic recovery measures should assure

employment opportunities and all rights of migrant

workers, especially those from least developed

countries.

However, amid the travails of the past years,

Bangladesh has fared reasonably well in maintaining

an annual GDP growth rate of 6 per cent. That was

possible due to our pragmatic policies on food

production, agriculture, rural development, inflation

control and keeping food and essentials prices within

reach of the poor. During our previous Government,

from 1996 to 2001, our policies on food security made

Bangladesh self-sufficient in food, which led to our

winning the Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations Ceres Award. This time around, with

the implementation of the national food policy, aimed

at stable prices of fuel, fertilizer, seeds and other farm

inputs, our Government has succeeded again in

ensuring sustained food supply to all.

Our Government’s aim is also to use information

and communications technology (ICT) to accelerate

our socio-economic development. Therefore, we are

implementing ICT Act 2009 and ICT Policy 2009 to

build the requisite infrastructure and extend ICT to

every nook and corner of Bangladesh. Already,

educational institutions, local government institutions

and rural communities are being connected to Internet

services. The process includes an e-centre for rural

communities, connecting 8,500 post offices; a high-

tech park; a network of e governance; and efforts to

strengthen the telecommunication network and satellite

communication.

Our e-services are now focused on improving

agricultural information delivery, market access,

education, health care, early warning systems for

disasters, law and order, and social safety net

payments. Also being implemented is an aggressive

e-leadership programme among members of

Parliament, top policymakers, field administrators and

local administrators. We had already transformed

100 Union Parishads to host e-centres in 2009, and we

are now expediting the process to cover all 4,500

Union Parishads by the end of this year. In short, our

Government is determined to achieve a digital

Bangladesh and transform it into a middle-income

country by 2021, the golden jubilee year of our

nation’s independence.

Simultaneously, our Government’s aim is to

attain 100 per cent primary school enrolment by 2011

and 100 per cent literacy rate by 2014. Our highest

budget allocation goes to education. Tuition and books

are now free for students up to grade 12. Computer and

Internet facilities are being provided free of charge to

schools in order to familiarize students with their use.

To encourage school attendance, we have started

providing lunch to students and cash incentives to

parents.

Though Bangladesh has achieved the Millennium

Development Goal target of gender equality at the

secondary level, our plan is to provide free tuition to

girls up to the undergraduate level. This is because we

firmly believe that women’s equal involvement is vital

for a nation’s development. Gender equity and human

development are our top priority concerns.

Our Government has revived the national

women’s development policy, adopted during our last

tenure of office, that is, 1996 to 2001. At present,

besides the Prime Minister, the leader of the

opposition, the deputy leader and a whip, there are five

other women Cabinet ministers and 45 members of

Parliament in reserved seats. Moreover, 19 women

members of Parliament have been directly elected.

Women also occupy 30 per cent of reserved seats in all

local governments. They are encouraged to participate

in politics and administration, and are recruited in all

professions, including the armed services. They are

also serving in United Nations peacekeeping

operations.

We have made arrangements to provide pensions

to distressed and widowed women, as well as

residential accommodation for both men and women in

old peoples’ homes. Our social safety nets also include

programmes for minorities, the marginalized, the

disabled and the mentally challenged; ashrayan, or

homes for the homeless; the “one home, one farm”

policy to alleviate poverty; and cash and food transfer

programmes.

A new policy provides for the employment of one

member from every poor family. Another new initiative

is the national services policy for providing youth and

women with employment and skills development.

Moreover, research opportunities have led to new

discoveries, particularly with respect to climate-

change-resilient crops. A recent success is genome

sequencing of the jute fibre, ensuring improved quality

17 10-55109

of jute products, a biodegradable option to hazardous

synthetic products.

Health is another area receiving special attention,

with the implementation of the national health policy

adopted during our previous term of office. This policy

provides for the establishment of one community clinic

for every 6,000 people. Our plan is to locate 18,000

such clinics in the first phase, to extend basic health

services into people’s homes. For safe motherhood, a

national strategy for maternal health has been adopted,

with a programme to reduce the infant mortality rate to

15 from the current 54 per 1,000 live births.

Our target is to complete 100 per cent

immunization by the end of our present tenure of

Government. Since my Government assumed office,

the maternal mortality rate has been reduced from 2.9

to 2.6 and infant mortality to such a significant extent

that our successes have been recognized with an award

by the United Nations.

Indeed, despite the recent world food, energy,

economic and climate change crises, Bangladesh, with

the support of United Nations agencies and bilateral

and multilateral partners, has made satisfactory

progress. In fact, our achievement with respect to

MDG 1, on poverty alleviation, MDG 2, on universal

primary education, and MDG 3, on gender equality and

women’s empowerment, are encouraging and on track.

Our Government, through its sincere efforts, intends to

raise 12 million people out of poverty, which would

halve the number of people now living in that sad state

by the MDG deadline of 2015.

Our unflinching commitment to peace finds

expression in our annual flagship Assembly resolution

on the culture of peace (see resolution 64/80). Recent

years have shown an extraordinary record of

sponsorships because of the reference to the

International Mother Language Day. Ever since the

Day was adopted by UNESCO in recognition of the

language martyrs who gave their lives in 1952 for

Bangla, their mother tongue, it has been celebrated

throughout the world with growing fervour every year.

Since Bangla is spoken by nearly 300 million people

worldwide and has a rich heritage in literature, history

and other fields, our Parliament adopted a resolution

requesting the United Nations to declare Bangla as one

of its official languages. I fervently appeal to Member

States for acceptance of our very legitimate request.

Every passing day, the peoples of the world are

being drawn closer together, as one village, with

quickly developing technologies and new challenges

such as climate change, terrorism and economic

interdependence. Indeed, our destiny is now one, as are

our burdens and responsibilities. It is now obvious that

only by mobilizing and optimizing our synergies will it

be possible for us to create a world of shared peace and

prosperity. We have no alternative but to discard our

self-centred, short-sighted interests and work in unison

for a world that our children, and theirs, will inherit, so

that they will remember us with fondness and in

gratitude.

May Bangladesh live forever. Long live the

United Nations.