Hon’ble Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Anisul Haque, MP,

Hon’ble Hasanul Haq Inu, MP,

Ms. Mia Seppo, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh,

Vice Chair of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the OIC

Distinguished Guests, Excellencies,

Members of the diplomatic core, civil society and distinguished Participants,

Ladies & gentlemen

Good morning

I welcome you all to this seminar the title of which should have been “Bangladesh, a Role Model of Human Rights”.

In this seminar, we should ask what do we mean by ‘Human Rights’ and why Bangladesh is a Role Model of Human Rights? 

As I understand, Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of their gender, nationality, place of residency, sex, ethnicity, religion, color or /and other categorization. Human rights are inalienable rights and these are specifically,

*rights to life, liberty and security,

*rights to protection of the law and equality before the law,

*rights to development, rights to work, and to receive equal pay,

*rights to education and right to participate in cultural and religious activities/festivities, and

*right to self-determination.

And more importantly, there cannot be any discrimination and deprivation.

Bangladesh has been trying its best to guarantee these inalienable rights to all its citizens. These are the core values of our country and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Father of the Nation fought for years to secure the basic rights that the Bengali nation had been deprived of. Our constitution that we adopted after the liberation war enumerated all human rights as fundamental rights and fundamental principles of State policy.

Guided by our Constitution, Bangladesh is pledged-bound to uplift human rights of every citizen in providing a better life, food, shelter, security, employment, education, free mobility, and rights to enjoy their inalienable rights.  The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has prioritized human rights, especially by creating opportunities for all, irrespective of race, ethnicity, color, religion, caste or/and background.  

Let’s take an example. Hunger and poverty is a curse and with a view to guarantee basic human rights, you will be happy to know that Sheikh Hasina’s government has reduced below poverty level by more than half, from 42% to 21%, and she proposes to reduce extreme poverty to below 5% within next 5 years.  Deaths due to hunger or monga no longer exist in Bangladesh.  It has gone to a museum. Such reduction happened not by accident but owing to rock-solid determination of the leadership and correct approaches.   In order to reduce poverty, she introduced a variety of policy strategy, for example, food for poor people at affordable prices, allowance for old-age people, for widows and abandoned wives, disables, and the like.  In order to boost agricultural production, she provided agricultural inputs at affordable prices against the advice of many of our development partners and the result is spectacular---- Bangladesh, a chronic food deficit country, in fact, achieved near self-sufficiency in food production enabling its poor people the basic right to have food, two meals a day.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Bangladesh government is also assisting its citizens with gainful income and employment under its ‘Akti Bari, Akti Khamer’ -- one farm-one house program.  To provide jobs, it has been providing skills training and loans without collateral. In order to provide affordable healthcare, it established nearly 18,000 Community Health Clinics all across the country. No wonder, it achieved most of the MDG goals.  For example, its infant death rate reduced by over 73%, maternal death rate by over 67%, school enrolment jumped to almost 100%, sanitation is nearly 100%, and life expectancy is over 74 years now.  It also achieved gender parity in both primary and secondary education.  Relative to our neighbors, Bangladesh is a star in socio-economic indices. As ‘right to development is a human right’, Bangladesh achieved commendable success in its economic development and human rights. A ‘bottomless basket’ has become a ‘vibrant economy’, ‘a standard bearer of the South’ and as per UN Secretary General, a model of economic development’.   It achieved 7.86% GDP growth rate because of good governance, however, there is scope for further improvement to achieve SDGs.

Women’s participation in labor force over the last 10 years jumped from a mere 6% to 38% and no wonder, as per World Economic Forum’s gender Gap Index, Bangladesh is second most gender equal country in Asia.

If people are empowered both men and women, in that case, they would know how to achieve their inborn human rights and right to have a decent living.  Therefore, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina submitted a resolution known as ‘People’s Empowerment: a peace-centric development model’ at the 67^th UN General Assembly and it was adopted by all member states. The very essence of the resolution is to empower people, guarantee them their human rights by integrating the interlinked and mutually reinforcing elements like (1) eradicating poverty and hunger, (2) reducing inequality, (3) mitigating deprivation, (4) creating jobs for all, (5) including the excluded people, (6) accelerating human development through imparting quality education and technology and (7) fighting terrorism in all forms and manifestations in accordance with the international law. We have ‘zero tolerance’ to ‘terrorism’, ‘zero tolerance to drugs’ and recently, we adopted ‘zero tolerance’ to corruption. 

Bangladesh is a success story in eliminating terrorism, in the inclusion of all people even the Hijra, and thus it is striving hard to enhance human rights and dignity to all its people.  In addition, Bangladesh is also maintaining a strong relationship of cooperation and collaboration with our international partners including the United Nations and its human rights mechanism.

As you may know, last year, we participated in our 3rd cycle of UPR. We have accepted many recommendations and my Ministry will coordinate it in future also.

Excellencies

The election manifesto of the current government has detailed the commitments to ensure human rights of all citizens in Bangladesh and the rule of law. I will share some of the core elements of the manifesto that highlights our pledge to human rights. Please bear with me.

* Bangladesh will take initiatives to develop national policies and strategies aiming at realization of the fundamental rights and principles as enshrined in the Constitution, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights instruments to which it is a Party.

* Democratic values and consciousness will be upheld, and the Constitution will be the highest document for running the government. Besides ensuring universal human rights, any attempts to violate human rights will be prevented. Falsifying documents, shouting ‘bomb bomb’ or ‘rape rape’ in a crowded public place with intention to disrupt, however, is neither freedom of speech nor human rights. The system of ensuring the independence and effectiveness of the Human Rights Commission will continue.

* As per Articles 10 and 28 of the Constitution, government is fully committed to establishing ‘women’s participation in national life’ and women’s equal rights with men in all spheres of the state and of public life. Building on our achievements, we will further consolidate our policies for women empowerment and also strengthen our enforcement mechanism to prevent violence against women.

* During our tenure the basic rights of the industrial workers will be protected.

* We will continue our efforts to ensure safe and secure environment for the children. Bangabandhu had made primary education compulsory in 1974.

* Bangladesh takes pride in upholding its Constitution that guarantees equal rights and honor for all citizens including religious minorities, small ethnic communities and under-privileged people. The slogan ‘To each his own religion, but festivals are for all’— in reality, is being practiced truly everyday and everywhere in Bangladesh.

* Independent Human Rights Commission, independent Anti-Corruption Commission, independent media, independent and strong judiciary – these are making important contributions to the protection of the basic rights of the people.

* To promote freedom of expression and thoughts, safety of the journalists and news-workers is ensured while discharging professional responsibilities.

Distinguished guests,

Bangladesh is a leader in global peacekeeping. We have been helping the UN in maintaining peace and stability in many post-conflict countries where their human rights have been at stake.  Due to violence and wars, there has been large-scale human exodus from war-torn countries.  Millions of people were forced out of their homes, their jobs and sadly, their human rights; right to live, right to work and to have a decent living is being ignored again and again.  These violence and wars emanate from a mindset of ignorance and hatred towards others. Therefore, to enhance human rights, and to achieve sustainable peace and stability, Bangladesh proposes to promote a ‘culture of peace’, an action agenda that proposes to inculcate a mindset of tolerance, a mindset of respect for others irrespective of ethnicity, color, religion and background, and if we can do that, ladies and gentlemen, we can surely help achieve sustainable peace, stability and human rights for all.

Therefore, may I request the members of our civil society, national and international bureaucrats and professionals, academia, media and the scholars to discuss about the challenges that we face in promoting and protecting human rights with a special focus in promoting a ‘culture of peace; and a ‘culture of human rights’ away from violence, hate mongering, and wars. With your active and meaningful participation, I am hopeful that this seminar would come up with a new vision and approach to guaranteeing human rights for all across nations.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

Finally, I must take this opportunity to remind you that unless we stand like a solid-rock to end atrocities and the worst form of human rights violation termed by UN High Commissioner of Human Rights as ‘classic example of ethnic cleansing’ and by others as ‘genocide’ in Myanmar, our efforts will never be of much value.   Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by allowing the persecuted people of Rakhine province of Myanmar has saved the face of the global leaders from ignominy and disgrace. If she wouldn’t have given shelter to them, it would end up with the gravest and worst genocide of the century since WWII.  There are nearly 1.2 million Rohingya or ‘displaced residents’ of Rakhine province being sheltered in Bangladesh now. They need to be repatriated with safely and security at the earliest.  Their exodus was created by Myanmar and it is their responsibility to solve it.

These Rohingya are stateless people, they lived in Myanmar for centuries and Myanmar itself, a State - is failing to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities towards its own people. My fear is that, if this problem lingers for a longer time, it may encourage creating pockets of radicalism and that may create problems of uncertainty and instability not only for Myanmar and Bangladesh but for the entire region. Therefore, Rohingya must go back to their homes, earliest the better. The global leadership must come forward to resolve this crisis at its root, not in Bangladesh. Bangladesh seeks your proactive cooperation in resolving this matter of grave concern.

In conclusion, I am sure you will agree with me that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by sheltering these persecuted people has become a ‘role model of humanity’, and a ‘leader of the world in protecting human rights and values’.   No wonder, the UN members overwhelmingly voted Bangladesh again into its Human Rights Commission.   

I wish you all a very fruitful participation in today’s seminar.

Thank you all.

Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu

Long Live Bangladesh

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