YouSaid · the spoken record

Sheikh Hasina

lines on the record: 296
first: 1999-09-24
most recent: 2023-09-24
sittings or episodes: 16
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We have also taken the initiative of developing infrastructure to enhance trade and people-to-people contacts in relations among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. Today we are witnessing unprecedented migration and human mobility that is reshaping history and geography. Migration has been recognized as a key enabler of development in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution 70/1). Cooperation among our countries is essential if we are to harness the full potential of migration. With that objective, we have decided to lead the Global Forum on Migration and Development in 2016. Over the years, peacekeeping and peacebuilding have emerged as United Nations flagship activities. Bangladesh is proud to be associated with those endeavours as a leading troop-contributing country.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The new 2030 development agenda makes it clear that all our actions need to be underpinned by a strong commitment to protecting and preserving our planet, biodiversity and climate. With only a small window of opportunity, we must succeed in setting the world on a safer, greener and more prosperous course. We realize that regional cooperation is critical in fostering sustainable development and achieving peaceful, stable societies. Bangladesh has taken the lead in building regional cooperation processes such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation and the Bangladesh-China- India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I, myself, am a victim of terrorism and violent extremism. My father, the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and my mother, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and three brothers, as well as other close relatives, were brutally assassinated on 15 August 1975. I, myself, have been subjected to terrorist attacks at least 19 times. My Government, therefore, maintains a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization. We remain steadfast in tackling the extremist and anti-liberation forces that remain active in their aim to destroy the democratic, progressive and secular ethos of our nation. Secondly, climate change poses formidable development challenges. We will be unable to sustain our development endeavours without effectively addressing climate change.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“This is a critical year for sustainable development. The third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa and the recently concluded United Nations Summit on the post-2015 development agenda here in New York have ushered in new hope for the peoples of the world. With our drive to achieve a meaningful climate change agreement in Paris this year, we hope to transform our future by ending poverty, limiting climate change and preserving our planet. Two global challenges pose the greatest threat to the sustainability of human civilization. First, terrorism and violent extremism remain major impediments to global peace and development. Terrorists do not subscribe to any religion. Terrorism and violent extremism are global challenges. All countries should unite to effectively address those challenges.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Let me extend my heartiest felicitations to Mr. Lykketoft on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventieth session. I also commend His Excellency Mr. Sam Kutesa for his excellent leadership of the Assembly during its previous session. This year is a transformative one for the United Nations and the world at large; it marks the seventieth 34/54 15-29562 30/09/2015 A/70/PV.19 anniversary of the founding of the global body. Our forefathers were inspired to establish the Organization based on the clear recognition that we share a common destiny. Since its inception, the United Nations has made remarkable strides in advancing peace and security, human rights and development. Seventy years on, it continues to inspire the shared dreams and aspirations of all humankind.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I once again call on the Assembly to recognize Bangla, which is spoken by more than 300 million people, as an official language of the United Nations. This year, Bangladesh celebrates 40 years of its membership of the United Nations. On this special occasion, I should like to reaffirm, on behalf of our people, the appeal by the father of our nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for our progeny at this Assembly in 1974: Let us together create a world that can eradicate poverty, hunger, war and human suffering and achieve global peace and security for the well-being of humankind.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We call for global support for coastal countries, such as Bangladesh, in developing the much-needed capacity, technology and institutional frameworks that will enable us to tap into blue opportunities. For that reason, we continue to support the inclusion of blue-economy principles and practices in the post-2015 framework. Bangladesh proposed a flagship resolution at UNESCO, adopted in 1999, which led to the recognition of 21 February as the International Mother Language Day for the peoples of the world. We established the only International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka to preserve the more than 6,500 mother tongues of humankind. Those are two pillars of our commitment to mother languages.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“For Bangladesh, climate change is a matter of bare survival. In addressing climate change, adaptation remains particularly key for us. We have a crucial need for adequate, predictable and additional climate financing, access to locally adaptable technologies and support for capacity- and institution-building. We reiterate, under United Nations leadership, in particular through the role of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the importance of the processes for the integration of the UNFCCC, disaster- risk reduction and the sustainable development goals. The world also needs to recognize the untapped potential of an ocean-based blue economy. The coastal and small island developing States stand to greatly benefit from the balanced conservation, development and use of marine ecosystems, resources and services.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“It is therefore logical for migration and development issues to find a well-deserved space across the emerging post- 2015 framework. It is my pleasure to announce that Bangladesh will chair the ninth Global Forum on Migration and Development in 2016. No challenge is as complex, widespread and formidable as climate change, in particular for countries such as ours. A recent Asian Development Bank report estimated that the mean economic cost of climate change and adaptation for Bangladesh would be between 2 and 9 per cent of GDP by 2100. Earlier, I emphasized before the Assembly that an increase of 1°C in the temperature is estimated to lead to a 1-metre rise in the sea level, thereby submerging a fifth of the territory of Bangladesh. That could compel 30 million of our people to move elsewhere as climate migrants.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“At the same time, in a globalized economy, the least developed and most climate-vulnerable countries, such as Bangladesh, require greater support in terms of ODA, science and technology innovation and capacity- building. All products from all LDCs must be granted duty- and quota-free access to all markets of developed countries. The world today is witnessing unprecedented human mobility within and beyond borders. Bangladesh has emerged as a key stakeholder in global migration. For instance, remittances contribute approximately 14 per cent of our GDP. Millions of our migrant workers continue to make a significant contribution to development in a range of countries worldwide. We need to acknowledge the manifold contributions that migrants and their families make to our economies and societies apart from just remittances.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“It must also contribute to a strengthened multilateralism, go beyond the national policy space and forge international cooperation. Greater resources would be key to the success of the post-2015 agenda. There is a need for a robust and broad-based global partnership based on the principles of mutual trust, respect and common but differentiated responsibilities. Bangladesh underscores its clear resolve with regard to the financing of sustainable development by next year, in particular from the financing for development process. While it is encouraging that some developed countries have fulfilled their commitment to contributing 0.7 per cent of their gross national income (GNI) and 0.2 per cent of GNI as official development assistance (ODA) to the least developed countries (LDCs), most other countries have yet to fulfil those goals.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I am pleased that the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals has used a rigorous, broadly inclusive process to come up with recommendations for a set of interlinked goals and targets. In Bangladesh, we have held national consultations and remained intensely engaged in the global process. We consider the set of goals and targets a carefully balanced package and a crucial basis for the post-2015 development agenda. The future development agenda must address low-income developing countries’ long- standing constraints on resources and capacity in a meaningful way and respond to emerging risks and vulnerabilities. The post-2015 development framework must fulfil our aspirations for building an equitable, prosperous and sustainable world where no person or nation is left behind.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“It is due to them that the world is seeing 50 per cent less poverty than in 1990, as well as more girls in school, fewer children dying and more people with access to safe drinking water and sanitation. However, progress has been uneven and unequal within and among countries and regions. Sadly, more than 1.3 billion people still live in abject poverty. As we reflect on our new and emerging development challenges, eradication of poverty must remain at the centre of the post-2015 agenda, and we must build linkages from it to all other goals. Our new framework must achieve a balance between the three pillars of sustainable development, and it should particularly keep in mind the importance of access and the unique circumstances and diverse needs of countries such as Bangladesh.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“With a view to ensuring equality, my Government has established numerous social safety-net programmes that cover more than 24 per cent of the population, notably feeding and development programmes for vulnerable groups; the Ashrayan poverty alleviation project, which provides housing and income generation for the homeless; monthly pensions for senior citizens, widows, destitute women and the disabled; maternity allowances; and food and nutrition security for rural dwellers through one-house, one-farm schemes aimed at promoting family farming. Persons with disabilities are provided with education, skills development and interest-free credit for self-employment, with a 1 per cent jobs quota reserved for them in the formal sector. The MDGs have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“The Government’s pragmatic policies have helped leadership by women grow from the grass-roots to the highest levels. Bangladesh may be the only country today where women concurrently occupy the positions of Prime Minister, Speaker, leader of the opposition and deputy leader. In the judiciary, administration, the civil service, the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, 10 per cent of posts are reserved for women, as are 60 per cent of primary-school teaching posts.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Our Government provides students with a free education up to the twelfth grade and provides 12.8 million students, 75 per cent of them girls, from poor families with monthly stipends from primary level to graduation. Each year we distribute around 318 million free textbooks to all students up to the secondary level. We are now focusing on improving the quality of education to enable our boys and girls to acquire essential life skills and grow up with a truly global outlook. For us, sustainable development implies the empowerment of women and their equal participation with men in all walks of life. Our efforts to promote women’s empowerment by enhancing their access to productive resources and representation at the national and local level are producing visible results.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Our people currently receive more than 200 types of service from more than 4,500 union service and information centres, while rural populations have access to health-care services from more than 15,000 information-technology-connected community health clinics and union health centres. These networks enable us to bring various crucial public services to our people’s homes at an affordable cost. Bangladesh has 117 million SIM cards with more than 78 per cent telephone penetration and 50 million Internet connections. Bangladesh’s strides in education have enabled us to achieve the MDG targets of ensuring universal primary school enrolment and gender parity in primary and secondary schools.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We are developing 18 economic zones around the country to enable potential investors to invest in Bangladesh, especially in the context of our growing integration into the regional connectivity framework. Bangladesh enjoys a clear demographic dividend, with two thirds of its workforce young, employable and capable of remaining economically active till 2031. One of our policy priorities is investing in skills development for our increasingly youthful population. With a view to developing a knowledge-based society, we are rapidly building the capabilities of our country and people in the area of modern information and communications technologies.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Remittances have also almost tripled, from $5 billion in 2006 to $14.5 billion, while our foreign currency reserves jumped six and a half times, from $3.49 billion in 2006 to $22 billion today. In an effort to unlock Bangladesh’s development potential, we have undertaken some massive infrastructure and connectivity projects. We have begun work on a 6.15-kilometre bridge over the great river Padma using our own resources. We will soon begin developing a deep-sea port in Sonadia, Chittagong. We are already working on upgrading our road and rail infrastructure, including expressways and river tunnels. We have reached agreements with friendly countries such as India, China and Japan to develop large-scale power plants to meet our growing demands by 2021.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We hope for the international community’s full support for our people’s desire for this long-awaited rendering of justice. Our Government has integrated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into our national five-year plan and Vision 2021, a people-centric programme that aspires to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based, technology-driven middle-income country by 2021. Bangladesh has already met or is on track to meet the first six MDGs. Poverty rates have fallen from 57 per cent in 1991 to below 25 per cent today. During the past five years, our gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate remained at 6.2 per cent, despite a global recession. Our export earnings grew more than threefold from around $10.53 billion in 2006 to more than $30.5 billion for the last fiscal year.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“My Government is also seeking to entrench democracy, secularism and women’s empowerment in order to defeat terrorism and extremism ideologically. We have also significantly enhanced transparency and accountability in governance by strengthening our election, anti-corruption, human rights and information commissions. To uphold peace and the rule of law and end the culture of impunity, my Government remains pledge-bound to bring to justice the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape and acts of genocide committed during our 1971 war of liberation. The highly transparent, impartial and independent international crimes tribunals in Bangladesh have already completed the trials of a few key criminals who carried out heinous crimes against humanity.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We remain firm in our resolve not to allow any terrorist individual or entity to use our territory against any State. The anti-liberation forces remain active in attempting to destroy the progressive and secular fabric of our nation. They resort to religious militancy and violent extremism at every opportunity. Under the direct patronage of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami Alliance Government from 2001 to 2006, they coalesced to form terrorist groups that carried out bomb and grenade attacks and killed secular political leaders and activists. Those gruesome attacks cemented my resolve to create a strong legal and regulatory regime for countering terrorism, including the adoption of the amended Anti-terrorism Act of 2013 and the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2012.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Our commitment to international peace is manifest in our support for the flagship resolution 68/125 on a culture of peace and non-violence. Our peace leadership is further reaffirmed through our support to the United Nations as one of the top troop- and police-contributing countries in the Organization’s peacekeeping endeavours. We have so far contributed 128,133 peacekeepers in 54 peace missions. Bangladesh proudly contributes the highest number of women police to United Nations peacekeeping, commensurate with our credentials in the empowerment of women. Terrorism and extremism remain major impediments on the road to global peace and development. My Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy with respect to all forms of terrorism, violent extremism, radicalization and faith-based politics.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Bangladesh believes that a threat to peace anywhere is a threat to humankind as a whole. In keeping with our position of principle, we continue to express our full solidarity with the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle for self- determination. We condemn the systematic killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, by Israel during the recent offensive in Gaza. We seek a permanent solution to that long-standing conflict through the creation of an independent and viable State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. Bangladesh strongly believes in the centrality and legitimacy of the United Nations as the custodian of global peace, security and development.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“That vision continues to guide Bangladesh’s national development policies and our engagement in global affairs. We gather at a time when the global development discourse finds itself at an important juncture. As the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches its deadline, the global community is engaged in framing a transformative development agenda for 2016-2030. The theme for this session of the General Assembly is therefore quite timely. Bangladesh believes that our deliberations will help us to arrive at a balanced, pragmatic and ambitious agenda. We cannot achieve sustainable development in the absence of durable peace and security. The volatile global security situation continues to pose significant challenges to international development.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I warmly congratulate Mr. Sam Kutesa on his election as the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I also congratulate Ambassador John Ashe for his leadership of the Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. My appreciation also goes to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his stewardship of our endeavours to realize our common vision of a world of peace, dignity and well-being for all. Four decades ago, in his maiden speech before the General Assembly, the Father of our nation of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (see A/PV.2243), described his vision for a global order, saying that the Bengali nation is pledge-bound to establish a global order, one based on peaceful coexistence, social justice and freedom from poverty, hunger, exploitation and aggression.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Justice is the panacea for peace that enables development and progress, which in turn dispel the challenges posed to freedom, democracy, human rights, the environment and the equitable sharing of transboundary resources such as water, among others, as well as the challenges posed by climate change. Our resolution on the culture of peace, introduced at the Assembly every year, is drafted in that spirit and is always adopted by consensus. It conveys the message of mutual respect for peoples and nations in our bid for a world of peace and promise. I believe that we all aspire to such a world for our future generations.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda is a daunting task for all States Members of the United Nations. We must be united in agreeing on a common framework for the development agenda that would fulfil our aspiration to build a just, prosperous and sustainable world where no person or nation is left behind. Bangladesh, representing 160 million progressive and resilient people, will lead those efforts up front. The globalized world has unique complexities that sometimes threaten peace. Justice-based policies are imperative to eradicate such threats.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Bangladesh is hampered by resource constraints and inadequate external assistance. To achieve the MDGs by 2015 and to implement the post-2015 development goals, we need our development partners to honour their pledges to contribute 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) as official development assistance (ODA) and 0.2 per cent of GNP as ODA to the least developed countries (LDCs). I urge them to also grant LDCs duty-free and quota-free access to their markets, as well as an equal voice in the Bretton Woods and international financial institutions and the free movement of labour. The implementation of part IV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is also essential for the benefit of both sending and receiving countries.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Our role in world affairs is based on justice and democratic values, with the aim of ensuring international peace and security and supporting disarmament. The promotion of cultural expression and interfaith and intercultural dialogue is essential for peace and development in the post-2015 era. My personal initiatives to disseminate those values at home and abroad were recognized by UNESCO in 2012, when we were awarded the Cultural Diversity Medal. Culture is integral to the identity of every State Member of the United Nations. Therefore, my country has proposed — to UNESCO and in the General Assembly’s thematic debate on culture and development — including culture as a theme of the post-2015 development agenda. I reiterate that call here today and request the support of all present.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Our commitment to global peace is proved by our role as a top troop-contributor in United Nations peacekeeping operations and as a Vice-Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission. It is also reflected by our position on disarmament and the nonproliferation agenda. During my first term as Prime Minister, from 1996 to 2001, Bangladesh became the first South Asian nation to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. In my current term, I am happy to again be the first in the region to have signed the Arms Trade Treaty, and to have acceded to the remaining instruments of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons at this year’s treaty-signing event.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Our commissions on elections, anti-corruption, human rights and information have been strengthened. During our Government’s tenure, the elections commission has conducted 5,777 elections, electing 63,995 persons to the Parliament, city corporations, municipalities and other local bodies, without receiving any complaint. The elections commission has therefore amply proven that it can hold free, fair and credible national elections. With respect to foreign affairs, we aim to cement peace by resolving outstanding issues with our neighbours, by increasing cooperation with them through strengthening connectivity and by maintaining good relations with all countries of the world according to the dictum of the Father of the Nation, “Friendship towards all, malice towards none”.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“On 21 August 2004, they made an attempt to assassinate me by lobbing 13 grenades at a public rally that I was addressing to protest the grenade attack on the British High Commissioner on 21 May 2004. In that attack, 24 people were killed and more than 500 injured. Miraculously, I survived. As members are aware, earlier a more brutal attack was carried out, on 15 August 1975, killing my father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation, and 18 members of my family. My younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, and I survived only because we were out of the country at that time. The gruesome attacks cemented my resolve to eliminate terrorism and to adopt tough anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering acts. At home, our Government is entrenching democracy in order to ideologically defeat terrorism and extremism.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Accordingly, our Government constituted two war crimes tribunals under the international crimes tribunals act of 1973 to try them. The trials are being held with the highest standards of judicial practices. The successful completion of the trials would heal the wounds of war and move Bangladesh on to the road of peace and progress. I urge the international community to support the trials process for the sake of justice, human rights and the rule of law. The anti-liberation forces have always been working to destroy the secular nature of our nation. Under the direct patronage of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party- Jamaat alliance Government from 2001 to 2006, they coalesced to form terrorist outfits, which began with bomb and grenade attacks killing people, especially secular leaders and members of Parliament.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The measures we have taken so far in that regard include the establishment of the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka and asking the United Nations to declare Bangla as one of its official languages. I thank the United Nations for introducing a Bangla website and radio programme, and the United Nations Development Programme for publishing its Asian report in Bangla. During our 1971 war of liberation, Pakistani occupation forces — in collaboration with their local cohorts — perpetrated genocide, rape, arson and crimes against humanity. More than 3 million people sacrificed their lives and a quarter of a million women lost their honour to achieve independence. Since then, it has been the ardent hope and aspiration of the nation to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I therefore reiterate the call that I made at the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly (see A/64/PV.4) for a legal regime to ensure the social, cultural and economic rehabilitation of climate migrants. I again call for a fast-track funding mechanism for least developed countries to ensure sustained funding for the realization of our adaptation and mitigation action plans on climate change. Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971 through monumental sacrifices. Our sacrifice began with bloodshed to preserve our mother tongue, Bangla, on 21 February 1952. At my Government’s initiative, UNESCO immortalized that sacrifice in 1999 by UNESCO by its declaration of 21 February as International Mother Language Day.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“For those with autism and other developmental disorders, a resolution on autism spectrum disorder was introduced by Bangladesh at the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly (resolution 67/82). It was adopted, unifying us all in our quest to provide them their rightful place in the world. However, our progress in all spheres has been sadly held back because of climate change. Fraught with increasing natural disasters, Bangladesh faces a calamitous future due to global warming and sea level rise. It is estimated that a 1˚ Celsius increase in temperature would lead to a 1 metre rise of the sea level, submerging one fifth of Bangladesh and forcing 30 million climate migrants to move elsewhere, thereby creating crisis of a huge magnitude within and beyond our borders.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Our policies of empowering the people, particularly the vulnerable, include social safety-net programmes, such as vulnerable group feeding and development; housing and livelihood for the homeless; monthly pensions for senior citizens, widows, destitute women, insolvent freedom fighters and people with disabilities; maternity allowances for a total of 4.3 million people; and food and nutrition security for more than 1 million rural people through One House, One Farm schemes, to name a few. The disadvantaged and the physically challenged are provided with education, skill development and interest-free loans for self- employment and, in the formal sector, a 1 per cent quota has been reserved for them.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Bangladesh is possibly the only nation today with women occupying the position of Prime Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader, all at the same time. The 10 per cent of posts reserved for women have helped many succeed in reaching high positions in the judicial and administrative branches, in diplomatic posts and in the armed forces and law enforcement agencies.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Education is the main driving force for attaining the peace and prosperity of a nation and for upholding justice, the rule of law, democratic values and people’s empowerment. Real development also demands the empowerment of women and their equal participation with men in all walks of life. Our new educational policy provides girls free education up to higher secondary school, monthly stipends for 11.9 million students of poor families, and free textbooks to all students up to the secondary level. Our policies have also helped develop women leaders from the grass roots to the topmost level. In politics, so far, 14,000 women have been elected to local Government bodies and 70 to Parliament. Five women are serving as Ministers and one as Whip.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Those recognitions were achieved largely due to the practice of the principles found in the resolution entitled “People’s empowerment and development” (resolution 67/107), which I submitted and which the General Assembly adopted at its sixty-seventh session. Using state-of-the-art digital technology, people today are getting more than 200 services from 4,582 digitized Union Information and Service Centres. Rural women are also receiving health-care services from 15,500 digitally interconnected community health clinics and union health centres, which have extended health-care services to people’s doorsteps. Advanced cell phone technologies are also providing services to more than 100 million subscribers. I believe that real national development is achievable only through education.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“In the past four and a half years, the average gross domestic product growth rate remained at 6.4 per cent; 50 million people have joined the middle income group; export earnings rose from $10.53 billion in 2006 to $27.03 billion today; remittances increased from $5 billion in 2006 to $14.5 billion; foreign currency reserves improved from $3.49 billion in 2006 to $16 billion; and power production capacity also increased from 3,200 megawatts in 2006 to 9,059 megawatts today, to name a few indicators. Bangladesh is therefore often called a model of economic development and the standard-bearer of South Asia. Our achievements received an MDG award, a South-South Award, a Global Diversity Award and a food award for 2013 from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The meeting also strongly identified the need for mainstreaming migration in the post-2015 development agenda, particularly to accommodate the expected climate migrants. Our aim is to become a middle-income country and to realize our Vision 2021 by setting goals that are in line with the MDGs. We have already met or are on track to meet Millennium Development Goals 1 through 6. Poverty has been reduced from 56.6 per cent in 1991 to below 26 per cent today.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the newly established High-level Political Forum are making good progress. Our experience also will be useful in overcoming the challenges to the MDGs by 2015 and in preparing the post-2015 development agenda. Bangladesh has submitted to the United Nations a draft of the post-2015 development agenda that covers socioeconomic and environmental goals and the resources required for achieving them. We also held a Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics in Dhaka, whose declaration placed human individuals at the centre of the entire development agenda. The declaration incorporated population growth, ageing, urbanization and migration as the priority issues.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“That reminds me of my father and the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his visionary call, in his first appearance before the General Assembly, in 1974, for a world order based on peace and justice and a global economic arrangement to free the world of poverty, hunger and aggression. As his daughter, I am proud to have been among leaders who adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000, to have been at the review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2010 and to be participating now in the transition from the MDGs to the post-2015 development agenda. I hope that this year’s theme — “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage” — will help us to design a pragmatic strategy for those goals.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I congratulate President Ashe very warmly on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. I congratulate also Mr. Vuk Jeremi. for his able leadership as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session. I admire the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his wisdom, bold initiatives and successes as head of the United Nations. Rapid technological innovations are transforming our world. The changes involved are also creating new conflicts within and among States. The vulnerable, the deprived and the disadvantaged have been the most affected.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Their structures and decision making processes reflect a balance of power that is 60 years old, serving the interests of a privileged few and ignoring the large majority. The new millennium, with its large number of independent sovereign States and globalization, has ushered in a new world order. Today, we speak boldly of justice, equality, democracy, freedom, human rights, environment and the adverse impact of climate change, among other things. These are the priorities of our time, which we must acknowledge in place of the bitter experiences of the past. The new world order of nations has to be based on justice, mutual respect and sovereign equality if we are to evolve towards the world of peace and hope that we wish to leave to our future generations. May Bangladesh live forever! Long live the United Nations!”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Another heinous kind of terrorism that we experienced in Bangladesh was the brutal assassination of my father and the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and 18 members of our family on 15 August 1975 by some misguided army personnel seeking to usurp State power. At that time, I was abroad with my sister, Sheikh Rehana, and thus escaped death. In view of our nation’s tragic experiences with terrorism, my Government has adopted a firm policy of zero tolerance of terrorism and all forms of extremism. I conclude by joining the vast majority of United Nations Members in stressing once again the urgent need to reform the United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions and other international financial institutions.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Prominent instances were the bomb attacks on four cinemas killing 19 people on 5 December 2002; the grenade attack on the British High Commissioner on 21 May 2004; bomb blasts at 500 places in 63 out of 64 districts within a span of half an hour on 17 August 2005; grenade and firearm attacks that killed former Finance Minister and Executive Director of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Mr. S.A.M.S. Kibria, MP, Mr. Ahsanullah Master, MP, Mr. Mumtazuddin, MP, and two popular judges inside the court premises. I was myself a target of a grenade attack at a public meeting on 21 August 2004, which left 24 people dead and nearly 500 injured. Somehow, I miraculously survived.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The blatant injustice perpetrated against, and murder, torture and humiliation of the Palestinian people by Israel marks a shameful chapter in human history. Deep frustrations at the injustice in Palestine and in other places also fuel terrorism. It is vital to resolve the Palestine and similar burning questions through justice and the establishment of democratic rights. In Bangladesh, from 2001 to 2006, an environment of terrorism prevailed. Under the patronage of the previous BNP-Jamaat Government, such internationally banned terrorist outfits as Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkatul Jihad, Hizb ut-Tahrir and Lashkar-e-Toiba, among others, carried out bomb and grenade attacks with impunity, every other day, to eliminate the secular and progressive parties.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)