Hasina calls for maintaining peace for sustainable development

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged world leaders to work for maintaining peace as it is the perquisite for sustainable development.

Sumon Mahbub from New Yorkbdnews24.com
Published : 27 Sept 2014, 03:48 PM
Updated : 27 Sept 2014, 03:48 PM

In her speech at the 69th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday, she renewed her call for accepting Bangla as an official UN language.

The prime minister also reminded the gathering of her government's strict stance on combating terrorism.

Hasina sought world leaders' support in the ongoing trials of suspected war criminals stressing that "highly transparent, impartial and independent" International Crimes Tribunals were holding the trials.

As the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) was nearing its end, she suggested adopting a "balanced package" for the next 15 years.

Emphasising peace for global development, Hasina said sustainable development is impossible in the absence of durable peace and security.

She pointed out that the "volatile global security situation" continued to pose "significant challenge" to international development.

"Bangladesh believes that threat to peace anywhere is a threat for the entire humanity," she said.

She quoted Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's first speech at the UNGA four decades ago, "The 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 prime minister mentioned terrorism and extremism as a "major impediment" to global peace and development and reaffirmed her government's stance on not allowing any terrorist or extremist organisation on Bangladesh's soil.

About the anti-liberation forces, she said they remained active in destroying the progressive and secular fabric of Bangladesh.

"They resort to religious militancy and violent extremism in every opportunity," Hasina said. "Under the direct patronage of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government from 2001 to 2006, they coalesced to form terrorist outfits, that perpetrated bomb and grenade attacks killing secular political leaders and activists."

"These gruesome attacks cemented my resolve to create a strong legal and regulatory regime for countering terrorism," the Awami League chief said.

Hasina said her government was determined to try suspected war criminals to "uphold peace, rule of law and end a ‘culture of impunity" and sought the international community's support for the "long-awaited justice".

She mentioned that MDGS were the most successful global anti-poverty push in history, but added that the progresses were uneven and unequal within and among countries and regions.

Sadly, over 1.3 billion people in the world still live in abject poverty, she added.

The Bangladesh leader said eradication of poverty must be given priority in the post-2015 agenda while suggested building linkages between other goals for the next 15 years.

"The new framework must secure a balance between the three pillars of sustainable development..... We consider the set of goals and targets as carefully-balanced package and crucial basis for the Post-2015 Development Agenda."

She urged to ensure that the future development agenda should address the resources and capacity constraints of low-income developing countries and respond to the emerging risks and vulnerabilities.

Hasina, however, expressed despair as many developed countries were yet to fulfil their commitment to contribute 0.7 percent of their GNI and 0.2 percent of GNI as ODA to the least developed countries (LDCs).

She also urged that all products from all LDCs must be granted duty-free and quota-free access.

She emphasised on the crucial need of countries like Bangladesh for adequate, predictable and additional climate finance to tackle the impacts of climate changes.

The prime minister also portrayed her government's successes including women empowerment in Bangladesh.

"The government's pragmatic policies have helped women leadership grow from the grassroots to the topmost levels," she said, adding that Bangladesh was possibly the only country at the moment where women simultaneously hold high positions of Prime Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader.

She also mentioned that Bangladesh's poverty rate had reduced from 57 percent in 1991 to below 25 percent now.

"Our people-centric vision aspires to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based, technology-driven middle income country by 2021."

The prime minister also cited that the country's average GDP growth was over 6 percent despite global recession while export earnings grew and the both remittance flow and foreign currency reserve had increased in the last five years.

She told the world about some big projects undertaken by her government including the Padma bridge and Sonadia deep sea port that would unlock Bangladesh's development potentials.

She said 18 Economic Zones were being developed in the country to allow potential investors to invest.

The prime minister added that her government was running social safety net programmes covering over 24 percent of the population to ensure equality.

She condemned the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, by Israel during the recent offensive in Gaza.

Hasina started her speech at 11:22am (local time) amid huge applauds.

Apart from her entourage members, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minsiter Abdul Latif Siddique, State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Hasina's son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy and his wife were present during her speech at the session.