Due to time constraints. I shall deliver an abridged version of my statement. The full version is available to all representatives.
Today I am delivering my nineteenth statement to the General Assembly. I would like to congratulate Mr. Dennis Francis on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. I assure him of the Bangladesh delegation’s full cooperation throughout the session. I also commend his predecessor. Mr. Csaba Korosi. for his successful steering of the seventy-seventh session.
I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his strong commitment to strengthening multilateralism and for his efforts, bold statements and far-sighted and pragmatic steps towards making the United Nations deliver on its mandates and meet the challenges of the current world.
At this critical juncture. President Francis’s call for rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity reminds me of the maiden speech delivered by our Father of the Nation to the Assembly. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman stated in his address to the Assembly in 1974:
“The great economic upheavals that have recently shaken the world should generate a sense of urgency for building a just economic order. ... Only a regeneration of the feeling of human solidarity and brotherhood and an acknowledgement of interdependence can bring about a rational solution and the urgent action needed to avoid this catastrophe.” (A/PV.2243. /mm 8 and 9)
In that connection, we deeply appreciate the Secretary- General’s initiative to convene the Summit of the Future next year. We hope that this process will amply complement our efforts to attain the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Since assuming office in 2009. we have transformed Bangladesh from a lower-middle income country to a middle-income country. We reduced the poverty rate from 41.5 per cent in 2006 to 18.7 per cent in 2022 and the extreme poverty rate from 25.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent. We have expanded the social safety net coverage to ensure the social and financial security of destitute women, widows, the elderly, persons with disabilities, persons of third gender and other marginalized segments of society. Forty million people are receiving the benefits of our social safety net programme, directly or indirectly. In the current fiscal year, a total of $12 billion has been allocated to the social safety net programmes. This year, we have introduced a universal pension scheme through which any citizen aged between 18 and 50 years of age can access old- age benefits.
We are committed to ensuring women’s empowerment and gender equality within a stipulated timeframe. We have given special attention to overall education, including female literacy. We have been providing textbooks free of cost up to the secondary level since 2010. From primary to higher education, about 23 million students are being provided with stipends, scholarships and one-time grants. More than half of those recipients are female.
Despite contributing less than 0.47 per cent of global emissions. Bangladesh is one of the most climatically vulnerable countries in the world. The adverse effects of climate change pose serious threats to the security and economic prosperity of our present and future generations. Urgent, bold and ambitious collective actions are needed to address those threats. We established the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust in 2009 to finance climate adaptation and have to date allocated $480 million to the fund from our own resources. Under the Ashrayan project, a landmark initiative of my Government for landless and homeless people. 5 million people from 840.000 families have been provided with houses free of cost.
The developed economies must fulfil their $100-billion commitments. We also demand the urgent operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, as agreed at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We call for stronger global solidarity in sharing the burden of climate migrants induced by sea-level rise, salinity increase, river erosion, floods and drought.
The interlinked crises of the past few years have pushed up the prices of food, energy and commodities globally, with negative impacts on our economy. Despite those challenges, we have ensured food for everyone. We are providing 10 million people in the low-income bracket with rice and other commodities at
affordable prices. We have taken various steps to keep inflation under control. I thank the Secretary-General for forming the Global Crisis Response Group in 2022 and for the Group’s continued advocacy and solutions in addressing the global food, energy and financial crises.
We are deeply concerned that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has become defunct and call on all parties concerned to secure its early restoration. Moreover, for countries like ours, the uninterrupted access to fertilizers must be ensured.
As part of Vision 2041. my Government is heavily investing in building a Smart Bangladesh to transform the country into a high-income, poverty-free, developed nation, grounded in the proper utilization of science and technology and powered by innovation.
In Bangladesh, we have achieved exemplary success in bringing primary health-care services to the grassroots level through community clinics. Bangladesh’s success has been recognized and appreciated by the General Assembly.
After peaceful settlements of maritime boundaries with our neighbouring countries, the blue economy has opened up a new horizon for the development of Bangladesh. We believe that the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea need to be effectively implemented to ensure sustainable use of marine resources. The day before yesterday. I signed the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Our commitment to global peace and security is well manifested in our contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations. As of now. 188.000 men and women from Bangladesh have served in 55 peacekeeping missions in 40 countries. Relying on our own experience, we are also actively contributing to post-conflict reconstruction efforts through our leadership role in the United Nations Peace-building Commission. We strongly support the role of the Commission in strengthening the United Nations prevention agenda.
We remain concerned at the continued prevalence of terrorist threats that are now taking new forms due to the misuse of information and communication technology. My Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and violent extremism. Acts that undermine communal harmony and the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths and beliefs are serious crimes. Bangladesh believes in communal harmony. As an elected member of the Human Rights Council, we are working with fellow member States to safeguard all human rights of people around the world. I would like here and now to unequivocally reiterate that Bangladesh will continue to promote democracy, the rule of law and freedom of expression, in line with our Constitution.
This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Nakba. the catastrophe inflicted upon the people of Palestine. It is deeply troubling that the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people have remained unmet. We will pursue our efforts to realize the rights of the people of Palestine. Bangladesh will stand by Palestine.
It has been six years since the forcible displacement of the Rohingyas from Myanmar. Out of humanitarian concern, we have given them temporary shelter. The displaced Rohingyas want to return to their own country and live a peaceful life there. Let us ensure that those destitute people can soon return to their homes..
On 15 August 1975. my father, the father of our nation and the incumbent President of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was brutally assassinated. A total of 18 members of my family were killed that day. including my mother, my three younger brothers, two sisters-in-law and my parental uncles. Only my younger sister and I survived the brutality, as we were abroad at that time. Before that, in 1971. 3 million of our countrymen were killed during our great War of Liberation, while 200.000 women were heinously tortured and abused. As a victim of and witness to the brutalities of war and assassination. I can feel the pain and agony that people endure due to the horrors of wars, killings, coups d’etat and conflicts. Therefore, my appeal today to all the leaders of the world is to shun the path of war and confrontation and to work collectively for enduring peace, the well-being of humankind and economic prosperity for our people and future generations.