I congratulate the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session on his election. We have confidence in his presidency of hope to steer us through a sustainable recovery that leaves no one behind. I also congratulate Mr. Volkan Bozkir, the previous President of the General Assembly, for his leadership in the face of unprecedented challenges during the historic seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly.
I take great pride in being able to say that I represent my country, Bangladesh, for the seventeenth time at the General Assembly.
The seventy-sixth session is being held while the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is claiming lives across the globe. Many countries are being affected by recurring waves of new variants. The pandemic has battered health systems and economies across the world. I pay tribute to all front-line workers for their dedicated service and sacrifice during the crisis. Against the grim reality of COVID-19, the fact that the theme of this session focuses on hope is very timely.
As an avowed supporter of multilateralism and the United Nations system, Bangladesh would like to see the Organization as a source of hope and aspiration during this critical time. We must set aside our differences and rise as one, while harnessing our collective strength to build back a better world for all.
This is a very special year for us, as we celebrate the golden jubilee of our independence. The celebration coincides with Mujib Year — the centenary of the birth of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I pay my profound respect and homage to the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose selfless, lifelong struggle and visionary leadership brought us our long- cherished independence. I also pay my deepest tribute to the valiant freedom fighters for their courage and sacrifices to free our motherland.
The Father of the Nation was a strong advocate of multilateralism and called the United Nations the centre of the future hopes and aspirations of the world’s peoples. On the very first day of our journey in the United Nations, he said in his maiden speech before the General Assembly, on 25 September 1974,
“Our goal is self-reliance; our chosen path is the united and collective efforts of our people. International cooperation and the sharing of the resources and technology could, no doubt, make our task less onerous and reduce the cost in human suffering” (A/PV.2243, para.23).
He called for building a world free of economic inequalities, social injustice, aggression and threats of nuclear war, which are as relevant today as they were 47 years ago. We therefore continue to lend our voice and leadership to all issues related to building an inclusive and equal society. Our calls for vaccine equality, our firm position against any form of injustice, such as against the Palestinian people, the resolution of the Rohingya crisis and promoting climate justice are a few examples of our global commitment.
We have been working hard to fulfil the unfinished dream of our Father of the Nation. We are now among the five fastest-growing economies in the world, ranking forty-first in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). Over the past decade, we have reduced the poverty rate from 31.5 per cent to 20.5 per cent. Our per-capita income jumped more than threefold, to $2,227, in only a decade. Our foreign currency reserve has reached an all-time high at $48 billion.
Bangladesh has made impressive progress in the socioeconomic sphere and women’s empowerment over the past decade. The infant mortality rate was reduced to 23.67 per 1,000; the maternal mortality rate to 173 per 100,000 live births; and the average longevity of people rose to 73 years. According to the World Economic Forum, since 2014 Bangladesh has ranked seventh, ahead of its regional neighbours, with regard to the political empowerment of women.
Our Digital Bangladesh initiative has stimulated transformative impacts on socioeconomic development, education, disaster risk reduction, women’s empowerment and so on. Our social safety net programmes have also significantly expanded. As for the Sustainable Development Goal Index score, the Sustainable Development Report 2021 identified Bangladesh as having progressed the most since 2015. Such progress was due to the heavy investment in women’s advancement and empowerment, which contributed to our transformative development.
We achieved the milestone of graduation from a least developed country (LDC) this year. Our vision is to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based society and a developed country by 2041 and a prosperous and resilient delta by 2100.
The impact of COVID-19 on Bangladesh has been much less than feared. That is mainly because of our health-care system, which has been strengthened from the grass-roots level. In addition, we adopted a timely, multipronged, multi-stakeholder approach to tackling its challenges. From the very beginning, we took some firm decisions to balance between lives and livelihoods. Those decisions included 28 stimulus packages, to the tune of $14.6 billion, or 4.44 per cent of our GDP, to keep our economy afloat. We have allocated $1.61 billion for vaccines in the current budget cycle.
Notably, we paid serious attention to the most vulnerable sectors of our society, such as the ultra-poor, the disabled, the elderly, returnee migrants and vulnerable women. At the outbreak of the pandemic last year, we immediately distributed cash and other kinds of assistance to nearly 40 million people. Our well- timed intervention and our people’s resilience helped us to achieve more than 5 per cent economic growth in 2020.
Since time immemorial, humankind has faced the onslaughts of nature and pestilence, as well as human- made conflicts and disasters. Yet humankind has survived those monumental challenges with hope in their hearts and belief in themselves.
The pandemic is another such crisis, out of which many inspiring stories of human survival and magnanimity have been born. Sadly however, the malaise seems likely to be here for a while. Therefore, as we have done in the past, we must come forth with fresh, inclusive and global ideas to fight that common enemy. Let me highlight a few specific issues in that regard.
First, for a COVID-19-free world, we must ensure universal and affordable access to vaccines for people across the world. At the previous session of the General Assembly (see A/75/PV.12), I urged the Assembly to treat COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good. That was echoed by many other leaders. Yet those
calls remain largely unheeded. Instead, we have seen growing vaccines divides between the rich and the poor nations.
According to the World Bank, 84 per cent of vaccine doses have so far gone to people in high and upper-middle income countries, while the low-income countries have received less than 1 per cent. Such vaccine inequality must be urgently addressed. We cannot chart out a sustainable recovery and be safe by leaving millions behind.
I therefore reiterate my call to ensure equitable and affordable access to vaccines for all. The immediate transfer of vaccine technologies could be a means to ensure vaccine equity. Bangladesh is ready to produce vaccines on a mass scale if the technical know-how is shared with us and a patent waiver is granted.
Secondly, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted climate-vulnerable countries. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I provided a grim scenario of our planet. Unless immediate measures are taken, the devastating impacts of climate change will be irreversible. No country, rich or poor, is immune to the destructive effects. We therefore call upon the rich and industrialized countries to cut emissions, compensate for the loss and damage and ensure adequate financing and technology transfer for adaptation and resilience-building.
As Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the Vulnerable Twenty Group of Ministers of Finance, we launched the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan — Decade 2030, outlining a transformative agenda from climate vulnerability to climate prosperity. The upcoming twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Glasgow, provides us with an opportunity to rally support for new and inclusive ideas in that regard. Let us not miss out on that opportunity.
Thirdly, the pandemic has severely disrupted our education system. According to UNICEF, close to half of the world’s students were affected by partial or full school closures. Millions of students in low-income countries did not have the resources and technologies to join remote-learning facilities, which jeopardized decades of gains in enrolment and literacy rates, among other achievements. We need a global plan to prioritize education recovery by investing in digital tools and services, ensuring access to the Internet and building the capacities of teachers. We also call on the United
Nations system to rally partnerships and resources to make that happen.
Fourthly, despite the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are on track to graduate from the LDC category. Nevertheless, the pandemic has jeopardized the graduation prospects and aspirations of many countries. We look forward to receiving more support from our development partners for an incentive-based graduation structure in order to motivate and incentivize sustainable graduation. As one of the Co-Chairs of the Preparatory Committee for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, we expect that a concrete outcome of the Doha conference will be the enabling of more countries to sustainably graduate from the LDC category.
Fifthly, migrants have been front-line contributors during the pandemic as essential workers, providing health-care and other emergency services. Yet many of them have been particularly hard-hit due to loss of jobs, salary cuts, lack of access to health and other social services and forcible return. We urge migrant-receiving countries to treat them fairly and protect their jobs, health and well-being during these trying times.
Sixthly, the Rohingya crisis is now in its fifth year, yet not a single forcibly displaced Myanmar national has been repatriated to Myanmar. Despite the uncertainty created by the recent political developments in Myanmar, we expect the international community to provide enhanced focus and active support so that a durable solution to that crisis will be found. Myanmar must create the conditions conducive to the return of displaced persons. We are ready to work with the international community on that compelling priority.
For our part, to facilitate the temporary stay of the forcibly displaced Myanmar national Rohingyas in Bangladesh, we have relocated some of them to Bhasan Char. We have also included all eligible Rohingyas in the national vaccination drive in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the camps. I would like to reiterate that the crisis was created in Myanmar and that its solution lies in Myanmar.
The international community must work constructively for a permanent solution of the crisis through the safe, sustainable and dignified return of the Rohingyas to their homes in Rakhine state. Their successful return will require the full support of the international community. We expect the leadership of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to step up its ongoing efforts, and the international community must back the accountability processes in place.
We envision a peaceful, stable and prosperous South Asia. We firmly believe that it is incumbent upon the people of Afghanistan to rebuild their country and decide the course of their future themselves. Bangladesh stands ready to continue to work with them and the international community in order to ensure the socioeconomic development of the people of Afghanistan.
Peace remains a pre-eminent focus of our foreign policy. As a sponsor of the flagship Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, we remain deeply committed to creating a peaceful society. Threats of terrorism and violent extremism jeopardize peace and security in many parts of the world. We therefore maintain a zero-tolerance policy in that regard.
As a leading peacekeeping nation, we are proud of our contribution to global peace. Despite the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, our peacekeepers serve in some of the most difficult circumstances across the globe, with the utmost dedication and professionalism. The international community must do all it can to ensure their safety and security.
With respect to our constitutional obligation, we have always been a steadfast supporter of complete disarmament. We firmly believe that the ultimate guarantee of international peace and security lies in the total elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. It was that conviction that led us to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force earlier this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the inadequacy of the global response to tackle emergencies. It has also put a spotlight on the critical need for global solidarity and collaboration in order to launch an effective COVID-19 pandemic response. We must demonstrate our ability to work and act together on common issues and create space for new partnerships and solutions. That must start right here at the United Nations, with Member States across regions rising above narrow political interests. Only then can we pursue any meaningful collaboration towards a resilient and inclusive recovery. At this critical juncture, the United Nations stands as our best hope. Let us join hands to keep that hope alive.
Before I conclude, I wish to humbly remind this organ, which was established to ensure peace and justice around the world, that I am still seeking justice for the brutal massacre of my family 46 years ago. It was in the early morning of 15 August 1975 that a band of renegade killers ruthlessly assassinated my father, the father of the nation and then-President of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; my loving mother, Sheikh Fazilutunnesa Mujib; my three brothers, the freedom fighter Captain Sheikh Kamal, the freedom fighter Lieutenant Sheikh Jamal and 10-year-old Sheikh Russell; and my paternal uncle, the freedom fighter Sheikh Abu Naser. Eighteen of my close family members were brutally murdered. My younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, and I survived the carnage as we were abroad at the time. For six years we were in exile, suffering from the agony of losing near and dear ones.
Nevertheless, my struggle continued. Since returning to Bangladesh, I have devoted my life to fulfilling the dream of my father, the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for a happy and prosperous golden Bangladesh. I have faced death threats multiple times, and I have been imprisoned multiple times, but I have never stopped. My only goal is to fulfil the dream of my father to establish a golden Bangladesh. I shall continue to do so as long as I live.
God willing, the people of Bangladesh will lead prosperous lives. May Bangladesh live forever.