UN Committee lauds Bangladesh’s human rights achievements: Foreign Ministry

The UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has lauded the achievements of Bangladesh in the realisation of human rights, the foreign ministry says.

Chair of the Committee Virginia Bras Gomez and the Rapporteur for the Bangladesh review Sandra Liebenberg also congratulated Bangladesh for meeting the requirements to graduate from LDC status.

They said it was a ‘tribute’ to the efforts that Bangladesh has made in the social, economic and cultural sector.

The first review of the National Report of Bangladesh at the 63rd session of the committee for the International Covenant on Economic, Social, Cultural Rights or ICESCR was held in Geneva on Mar 15-16, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam led the Bangladesh delegation comprising the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh Mission in Geneva, and officials from different ministries.

The review was conducted by 18 members of the committee, who took part in the two-day dialogue and asked questions to the delegation of Bangladesh in relation to the present status of implementation of ICESCR and share future plans.

The state minister highlighted the government’s various legislative and policy measures as well as plans of action and programmes.

He also provided statistics as on “how the government progressively realised the peoples’ right to work, adequate standard of living, education, social protection, and right to form trade unions, and addressed the issues of discrimination, equality, protection of family.”

The committee raised issues of women empowerment, the protection of rights of ethnic minorities, status of anti-discrimination bill 2015, strengthening tax systems, protection of labour rights, social safety net, Bangladesh’s plan of transition from informal to formal economy, birth registration, child marriage, amongst others.

To respond to the question of addressing the issues of discrimination, the state minister highlighted, inter alia, the wide base of the social safety net, the 15th amendment of the constitution in the protection of rights of the ethnic minorities.

In this regard he mentioned that Bangladesh ranked 34th in the world in the Inclusive Development Index.

The committee members appreciated Bangladesh government’s commitment and sincere efforts in addressing the challenges in the realisation of the human rights. They also commended Bangladesh for hosting more than one million Rohingyas.

The state minister assured that Bangladesh would work in close cooperation with the committee, and would submit its next periodic report on time.