Bangladesh, 1998

May I convey to you, Sir,

on behalf of my delegation and on my own behalf, our

felicitations on your unanimous election as President of the

General Assembly at its fifty-third session. With a person

of your eminence and experience in the Chair, our session

is assured of a successful outcome.

To your predecessor, Hennadiy Udovenko, I express

our deep appreciation for a job well done. We truly had a

reform Assembly. It was a matter of great satisfaction for

Bangladesh to support his brilliant work on United Nations

reform, especially through our role as the Chairman of the

Administrative and Budgetary Committee. We are

particularly grateful that, at the concluding meeting of the

fifty-second session, he appealed to the international

community for solidarity with the people of Bangladesh at

a time when our country was inundated by the worst floods

in our history.

In this yearâs unprecedented floods, two thirds of our

country was completely inundated and nearly 31 million

people were affected. Over 20 million were rendered

homeless. Immense damage was done to crops, roads,

bridges, clinics, schools and industrial plants. With the

receding of the flood waters, we are bracing ourselves for

the even greater problems of water-borne diseases and

scarcity of food and safe drinking water, compounded by

homelessness and unemployment. Under the direct

supervision of Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina, we are

reaching out to the affected people with assistance. The

enormous scale of damage challenges us with a task of

colossal magnitude. The cost of relief, rehabilitation and

reconstruction has been estimated at approximately $900

million.

The United Nations system, I am happy to say, has

responded to our needs and requirements, as have our

development partners and many friendly countries. On

behalf of the Government and the people of Bangladesh, we

would like to express our sincere thanks to Secretary-

General Kofi Annan for his support for and solidarity with

Bangladesh at this hour of need. We are also thankful to

the diplomatic missions stationed in Dhaka, the

international organizations, non-governmental organizations

and Bangladesh nationals abroad for their continued

support, understanding and sympathy towards Bangladesh

and its efforts to face the challenges. I reiterate here the

appeal made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the

generous and continuing support of the international

community to Bangladesh in the coming days.

Floods are not unknown in Bangladesh. Flooding as

we have been experiencing this year is unprecedented

both in magnitude and duration. The Secretary-General in

his annual report has referred to threats to human

security, including natural disasters. Indeed, of all natural

disasters floods cause the most widespread havoc and

misery.

Bangladesh, of course, is not the only country to

have suffered severe flooding this monsoon season. The

cause of this yearâs floods may well be complex. We

cannot help but be perturbed, however, by the observation

in the Human Development Report of this year that global

warming could permanently flood large areas and play

havoc with harvests. The report cautions that the human

consequences of global warming can be devastating for

many poor countries like Bangladesh, which could see its

land area shrunk by as much as 17 per cent with a one

metre rise in sea level.

Elements and factors that affect the global ecosystem

and the environment are interlinked. They transcend

national frontiers and can be addressed meaningfully only

by nations acting in concert. It is a matter of survival for

many peoples, and the highest priority should be given to

this issue. We have come a long way since Rio, and yet,

very few tangible benefits have been achieved in the

absence of promised new and additional resources.

Since assuming office following elections in June

1996, our Government has been trying to put in place and

strengthen institutions and laws that will reinforce

democracy and promote good governance. In December

last year, we negotiated an end to the long-standing

problem in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Chittagong

Hill Tracts Agreement was concluded within the

framework of our Constitution, and it fully meets the

legitimate concerns of the tribal population. We are now

putting into place the necessary laws and institutional

machinery pertaining to the Agreement and widening

developmental activities in the area. My Government

welcomes cooperation in this effort from all our

development partners.

Our commitment to democracy and the rule of law

has prompted us to accord priority to human rights. We

are in the process of setting up an independent national

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human rights commission. Our objective is to take the

human rights issue to the grass-roots level, to increase

awareness among our people of their rights that have been

guaranteed by our Constitution and to make the process of

justice accessible and affordable to all. A lot remains to be

done, and we have made a good beginning.

Bangladesh believes in the centrality of the right to

development within the human rights regime. The

implementation of the right to development will be further

enhanced through a binding international treaty on this

right. We are therefore very pleased that at the recent

summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Durban, the

heads of State and Government endorsed our Prime

Minsterâs proposal that consideration be given to the

preparation of a convention on the right to development.

At home we have also embarked on a comprehensive

programme of reform and deregulation. Social development

has remained the main focus of our development strategy.

Education, health care, employment generation and

womenâs empowerment within the broad framework of

human development continue to receive priority attention.

We are focusing on the rights of women and children. The

role and involvement of civil society in our development

efforts, particularly in the social sector, have been

remarkable.

The process of globalization and liberalization brings

risks, grave challenges and opportunities, but in unequal

ways. The external economic shocks associated with this

process are too powerful for the vulnerable economies to

absorb. This is now being recognized even by the

beneficiaries of globalization. As has been said, the

globalization process must reflect a more inclusive vision

of shared interests and shared values. We would support the

views of the Secretary-General of the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that a

global economy should mean that no one will be left

behind.

We need to ensure that the process of globalization

and liberalization meets our development needs. We need

to formulate a positive and workable agenda for ensuring

that globalization promotes equity and benefit for all. An

integral component of the globalization process is unfettered

movement of the factors of production, including capital

and labour. We need to encourage migration of labour in

order to ensure balance in globalization.

Official development assistance in real terms has

declined by more than 15 per cent from 1992 to 1996. This

decline must be halted and reversed. For the poorest and

more vulnerable economies, official development

assistance remains indispensable. We call on all

developed countries to reach the agreed target of 0.7 per

cent for the developing countries and 0.15 to 0.2 per cent

for the least developed countries as soon as possible,

preferably by 2000.

The least developed countries represent the most

vulnerable economies and peoples of the world. The

ministerial communiqué issued after the 1998 substantive

session of the Economic and Social Council underscored

certain timely issues. In particular, I would mention the

call for working together for enhanced market access for

the least developed countries and to support their efforts

at capacity-building. We also welcome the call for further

progress towards zero tariff on exports from least

developed countries.

Preferential treatment accorded to least developed

countries should not be time-bound. The restrictive trade

regimes of labour and environmental standards should be

made flexible. We need to adequately prepare to address

these and other relevant issues in the forthcoming Third

United Nations Conference on the Least Developed

Countries, to be held in 2001.

The situation in the least developed countries in

particular makes it clear that the eradication of poverty

continues to be our overriding concern. It is essential to

ensure long-term global security, as well as to achieve

sustainable, economic and social development. We believe

that the goal of the Microcredit Summit held last year, to

reach 100 million of the worldâs poorest families,

especially the women of those families, will become a

reality by the year 2005. Effective microcredit

programmes provide access to small capital to people

living in poverty in many countries of the world. In

addition to the eradication of poverty, the microcredit

programmes have also been contributing to the social and

human development process, particularly the

empowerment of women.

As the Secretary-General has noted in his annual

report, the world has been free from large-scale regional

conflict over the past year. Peace on a global scale and in

a meaningful sense, however, still remains a distant goal.

The post-cold-war reality underscores that we need to

build a culture of peace based on the principles enshrined

in the United Nations Charter and on respect for human

rights, democracy, tolerance and wider and equal

participation of people in all spheres of human activity.

We welcome the proclamation of the year 2000 as the

International Year for the Culture of Peace and the

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proposed proclamation of the period 2001 to 2010 as the

international decade for the culture of peace and non-

violence for the children of the world. The Secretary-

General has been requested to submit a draft declaration

and programme of action on the culture of peace to this

session. We hope it will be possible for the General

Assembly to adopt these documents at the earliest

opportunity.

We are particularly concerned that hopes for a just,

lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East are yet

to be fulfilled. The framework for such a peace exists in the

relevant Security Council resolutions, the principles of the

Madrid Conference and the Oslo accords. The principle of

land for peace has been accepted by all, and yet our

Palestinian brethren continue to be frustrated in their hopes

and aspirations. New settlements, expansion of the

Jerusalem municipal area and large-scale internment of

Palestinians without fair trial cannot promote the cause of

peace. Bangladesh strongly believes that nothing should be

allowed to thwart the peace process. We would urge that

every moral pressure and persuasion be brought to bear

upon the Israeli authorities so that the peace process can

progress to its logical culmination. We look forward to the

early establishment of an independent, sovereign State of

Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital, and to its full

membership of the United Nations.

The cause of the sufferings of our brothers and sisters

in many African countries, particularly in the Great Lakes

region, needs to be addressed more comprehensively. The

recent plight of the people of Kosovo is a stark reminder of

the not-so-distant events of Bosnia. Peace initiatives in

Afghanistan have yet to make any headway. Peace in that

country has to be built from within. The problem of

Afghanistan can only be resolved by the Afghan people

themselves, without outside interference. In such cases, we

believe in the significant role that the United Nations can

play as a peace-builder.

In the area of arms control and disarmament, some

noteworthy progress has been made. The Ottawa

Convention on anti-personnel landmines will soon come

into force. We welcome the decision of the Conference on

Disarmament to set up committees on security assurances

to non-nuclear-weapon States and also on fissile materials.

For Bangladesh, the pursuit of general and complete

disarmament is a constitutional commitment, and we are

ready to support any and every move that contributes to this

objective. The nuclear tests in South Asia have been the

subject of much debate, discussion and concern. In this

connection, the initiative of Bangladeshâs Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina Wajed to minimize tensions in the region

through personal visits and by urging all concerned to

contribute towards strengthening peace in South Asia and

the world has been widely appreciated. We attach great

importance and priority to our relations with our

neighbouring countries. We are happy at the

announcement of moratoriums on further nuclear testing,

and we remain committed to the goal of a nuclear-

weapons-free world. We believe that the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), to

which Bangladesh is a party, provide useful frameworks

for establishing a nuclear-weapons-free world. It was a

pity to observe that consensus could not be reached in the

Conference on Disarmament to set up an ad hoc

committee for nuclear disarmament.

Last year, our Secretary-General submitted to the

General Assembly a package of reform proposals to make

the United Nations more streamlined and attuned to

present-day problems and realities. Some major decisions

were, in fact, adopted by the fifty-second session on the

basis of these proposals. This session of the Assembly,

we believe, will continue the reform process, resolving in

particular the issues relating to the development account,

results-based budgeting and the so-called sunset clause.

Reforms have, by definition, to be a continual

process. The United Nations has to be adapted to new

conditions and problems. On this there can be no two

opinions. For the past five years we have been discussing

the issue of Security Council reform and expansion. We

have articulated our particular concerns in different

working groups and forums. At the recent Non-Aligned

Movement summit in Durban, the Movementâs collective

position was reaffirmed. I would also stress that it is the

weaker and more vulnerable group of countries that has

the most vital stake in a dynamic and effective United

Nations and its Security Council. These countries

constitute a clear majority among the 185 Member States,

and their concerns should not be overlooked or glossed

over in any reform or restructuring exercise. While

stalemate continues in this area, we are pleased that an

International Criminal Court has seen the light of the day

after so many years of efforts. Despite shortcomings, the

Court is a milestone in United Nations history.

Bangladesh attaches great importance to the

coordinated and integrated follow-up to the decisions

taken at the major United Nations conferences of the

1990s, as an area which contributes effectively to the

reform process. We believe that the outcomes of these

conferences provide the international community with the

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most important opportunity to ensure a better life for the

peoples of the world at the outset of the twenty-first

century. In particular, we call for concerted efforts to

ensure the success of the special session of the General

Assembly next June for the follow-up to the Cairo

population conference. We also welcome the proposed

millennium Assembly session and hope that it will look into

the issues that will challenge us in the coming decades.

This Assembly session should be our outreach into the

future.

The end of all political efforts, as a former United

Nations Secretary-General once observed, must be the well-

being of the individual in a life of safety and freedom. This

is a goal to which no one is averse. It is also something

that no nation can achieve on its own in a world that is

increasingly interdependent. Peace and security and

development in a real sense are indivisible.

Despite the increasing complexities it faces every day,

the United Nations is functioning today more effectively

and efficiently than before. In recent times it has played a

far more constructive and positive role. The United Nations,

of course, has its critics and, indeed, may even benefit from

constructive criticism. There is always scope for change and

improvement. The United Nations has had its share of

failures, which so often seem much more glaring than its

quiet successes. There can be no doubt that it remains the

sole universal platform for humanity to chart its future in

the new millennium.