UN
Build a more equal, inclusive world: Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said bold and concrete actions need to be taken at the global level with multilateral cooperation to fulfill the pledge to build a more equal and inclusive world as no single country can tackle this crisis alone.
“No single country can tackle this crisis alone. We need bold and concrete actions at the global level. We need multilateral cooperation in fulfilling our promises of UN75 Declaration to build a more equal and inclusive world,” she said.
The Prime Minister said this in a prerecorded message at the “Delivering the UN Common Agenda: Action to Achieve Equality and Inclusion” organised by Swedish Mission to the UN on Thursday.
Read: Want actions, not words: Hasina to global community over Rohingya crisis
In her speech, Hasina highlighted six specific points in this regard.
The points are: Eliminating “vaccines divides” between the rich and the poor; presenting a new paradigm that will address inequality across the world in a holistic manner as it has deep relations with the SDGs; addressing the special financing needs of the most vulnerable countries, which include the LDCs, climate vulnerable countries; addressing the vulnerabilities of migrants and people on the move; bridging the stark “digital divides” to ensure equal opportunities for all, and create more opportunities for women and girls to act as a real “change makers”.
The Prime Minister said the Secretary General’s Report on “Our Common Agenda” provides an alarming picture of the growing inequality across the world, and the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the poorest and the most vulnerable countries the hardest. “Our decades of development gains on reducing poverty, inequality and exclusion are rapidly sliding back.”
Read: Declare Covid vaccines as 'global public good': Hasina
Hasina said the Constitution of Bangladesh ensures “Equality of opportunity to all citizens”.
“We’ve placed the most vulnerable section of our society at the centre of our efforts. And that include, women, the ultra-poor, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.”
PM plants tree at UN gardens, dedicates those to Bangabandhu
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday planted a honey locust tree and unveiled a bench at UN gardens and dedicated these to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of his birth centenary.
She planted the deciduous tree at the North Lawn of the United Nations Headquarters in the morning (local tome).
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the United Nations had recognized Bangladesh on September 17 after its independence. Immediately after getting the recognition, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to the UN and made his speech here on September 25 and which was delivered in Bengal.
READ: Durga Puja: PM donates Tk 3 crore
“So, today a bench was dedicated to his name and a tree was planted in a very nice place here in the same month of September. The tree can survive for more than 100 years, which will continue spreading the message of peace,” she said, adding the bench and tree stand together to epitomize the values of peace.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and Bangladesh Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima were, among others, present.
Locust trees are a type of fast-growing flowering plant, belonging to the family of plants known as Fabaceae. Almost all Locust trees can survive for more than a hundred years and their wood is deemed harder than the strongest deciduous trees.
The Prime Minister arrived here on Sunday to attend the 76th session of the United Nation General Assembly.
READ: PM arrives in New York to attend UNGA
She will attend the opening session of the UNGA general debate on Tuesday (September 21) and will address the general debate on September 24.
Besides, Sheikh Hasina will join a number of sideline events in the UNHQ and will have talks with some leaders from September 20 to 24 during her stay in New York.
Bangladesh needs no UN help for holding elections: Information Minister
Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday said Bangladesh needs no assistance from the United Nations (UN) to arrange elections since the country’s Election Commission (EC) is capable enough to hold fair and transparent polls.
“The Election Commission of Bangladesh is very strong, and I don't think it needs anyone’s help to hold elections,” he said.
The minister came up with the remarks at a programme of Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF) as journalists sought his reaction to UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo’s comment on the UN’s assistance for holding elections in Bangladesh.
Stating that the EC has already conducted many elections in Bangladesh in a very fair and transparent manner, Dr Hasan said Bangladesh is not Somalia or Ethiopia that it needs the UN’s help to hold elections here.
He, however, said it is completely a different issue if anyone wants to observe elections in Bangladesh. “But the Election Commission doesn’t need any assistance to conduct elections.”
Also read: UN to provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh if requested: Mia Seppo
On Sunday, Mia Seppo said the UN will provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh only if there is any request on that particular front.
Responding to questions at “DCAB Talk” at the Foreign Service Academy, she also said, “The UN doesn’t provide electoral assistance unless we’re asked to.”
About seeking the bank account details of journalist leaders by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the Information Minister said the government can seek bank account details of anybody for any reason. “The bank accounts of MPs, government employees and the leaders of various business organisations are also sought. There’s nothing wrong to ask for bank account details of anybody.”
He said it was not supposed to be published in newspapers that the journalists’ bank account details were sought. “This is a question as to why it was published in the media. Another question that’s being raised by the journalists is why the bank accounts were asked with the name of organisations. I think if someone is transparent, there’s no reason to be worried about it.”
The BFIU of the Bangladesh Bank recently issued letters to the commercial banks asking for details of bank accounts of 11 journalist leaders.
Asked about the government’s move regarding the YouTube-based news channel after closing IPTVs by BTRC, Dr Hasan said his ministry only gives registration to the IPTVs, but they get domain allocation from BTRC. “The question is how they got the domain allocation. I think one has to be very careful from now on before allocating a domain.”
He said there would be a tripartite meeting of Information, Posts and Telecommunications and the ICT ministries on Wednesday to discuss the matter.
Also read: Next election must be under neutral govt: Fakhrul
Later, the minister unveiled the cover of BSRF’s magazine, 'BSRF Barta', at the meeting room of the Information Ministry at the Secretariat.
BSRF president Tapan Biswas and general secretary Masudul Haque were, among others, present at the programme.
UN to world leaders: To curtail warming, you must do more
Pressure keeps building on increasingly anxious world leaders to ratchet up efforts to fight climate change. There's more of it coming this week in one of the highest-profile forums of all — the United Nations.
For the second time in four days, this time out of U.N. headquarters in New York, leaders will hear pleas to make deeper cuts of emissions of heat-trapping gases and give poorer countries more money to develop cleaner energy and adapt to the worsening impacts of climate change.
“I'm not desperate, but I'm tremendously worried,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press in a weekend interview. “We are on the verge of the abyss and we cannot afford a step in the wrong direction.”
Also read: UN chief warns China, US to avoid new Cold War
So on Monday, Guterres and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson are hosting a closed-door session with 35 to 40 world leaders to get countries to do more leading up to the huge climate negotiations in Scotland in six weeks. Those negotiations in the fall are designed to be the next step after the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
And all this comes after Friday, when U.S. President Joe Biden convened a private forum on climate to coax leaders to act now.
“We are rapidly running out of time,” Guterres said at Biden’s forum. “There is a high risk of failure” of negotiations in Glasgow.
This week’s focus on climate change comes at the end of another summer of disasters related to extreme weather, including devastating wildfires in the western United States, deadly flooding in the U.S., China and Europe, a drumbeat of killer tropical cyclones worldwide and unprecedented heat waves everywhere.
Achieving some kind of success in emission-cut pledges or financial help during the week of U.N. sessions would ease the path to an agreement in Glasgow, just as early announcements of pollution curbs did in 2015, especially those from China and the United States, experts said. Now those two nations are key again. But, Guterres said, their relationship is “totally dysfunctional.”
Nigel Purvis, a former U.S. State Department climate negotiator and CEO of the private firm Climate Advisers, said the political forces going into Glasgow don’t look as optimistic as they did four months ago after a Biden virtual climate summit.
But, he says, there is still hope. Countries like China, the world’s top carbon emitter, have to strengthen their Paris pledges to cut carbon pollution, while rich nations like the United States that did increase their emissions promises need to do more financially to help poorer countries.
Also read: ‘Code red’: UN scientists warn of worsening global warming
“The Glasgow meeting is not shaping up to be as well politically prepared as the Paris conference was in 2015,” Purvis said. And Pete Ogden, vice president of the United Nations Foundation for Energy and Climate, cited "worrying mistrust between nations at a time when greater solidarity is needed.”
As the world's leaders gather, activists, other government leaders and business officials gather in New York City for Climate Week, a giant cheerleading session for action that coincides with the high-level U.N. meeting. And throughout the week the push is on the rich nations, the G-20, to do more.
“It is true that the G-20 countries bear the biggest part of the responsibility for carbon emissions. And in that regard, of course it is absolutely crucial that we see them accelerating in a very important way their actions,” U.N. climate conference chief Patricia Espinosa said Friday as her agency announced that emission pledges for the Scotland conference were falling far short of the Paris goals.
The most stringent one seeks to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. That translates to about 0.4 degree Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) from now because of warming that’s already happened.
A UN report on Friday showed that current pledges to cut carbon emissions set the world on a path toward 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since the pre-industrial era. That shoots way past even the weaker Paris goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
“That is catastrophic,” Guterres said in the interview. “The world could not live with a 2.7-degree increase in temperature.”
The overall goal is to have “net zero” carbon emissions by the middle of the 21st century. That refers to a moment when the world’s economies are putting the same amount of carbon dioxide into the air as plants and oceans take out of it, thus not adding to global warming.
Guterres is pushing for rich nations to fulfill their longtime pledges of $100 billion a year in climate aid to poor nations, with at least half of that going to help them cope with the impacts of global warming. So far, the world is falling about $75 billion a year short, according to a new study by Oxfam. Funding to cope with climate change's impacts fell 25% last year for small island nations, “the most vulnerable of the vulnerable,” he said.
Under the Paris agreement, every five years the nations of the world must come up with even more stringent emission cuts and more funding for the poorer nations to develop cleaner energy systems and adapt to climate change.
While the leaders convene for the U.N. meetings, activists, business leaders and lower-level government officials will be part of the cheerleading in a “climate week” series of events. Planners include big name corporations announcing billions of dollars worth of commitments to fighting climate change, lots of talk by big names such as Bill Gates about climate solutions, and even all seven late-night U.S. talk show hosts focusing on climate change Wednesday night.
“You’ve got the world leaders there, and so you can remind them about climate and get them focused on it” said Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group , which is coordinating climate week.
What counts most is what happens in six weeks in Glasgow, says Jonathan Overpeck, dean of environment at the University of Michigan, “But," he said, "the more that can be agreed upon early, the easier it will be to get the commitments that are needed to put an end to climate change. ... We’re not yet on an emissions reductions path that is safe for our planet and its people."
Things to watch at the UN General Assembly meeting this week
Things to watch beyond the main speeches from leaders at this week’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York:
— A MEETING at U.N. headquarters on Wednesday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa will be closely watched. It is being boycotted by the United States, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia because of concerns about anti-Semitic statements at the 2001 meeting.
— THERE ARE also high-level meetings on energy and the nuclear test ban treaty, and a summit on the connected system of producing, processing, distributing and consuming food, which according to the U.N. contributes an estimated one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N. Security Council will hold a high-level meeting Wednesday on climate and security.
Read:UNGA: No scope for side events this time due to Covid-19
— USUALLY, HIGH-LEVEL WEEK has hundreds of side events but because of the COVID-19 pandemic only a limited number are being held mainly virtually or outside U.N. headquarters. These include events on vaccines, on children as invisible victims of the coronavirus and conflict, on multilateralism and democracy, and on global hotspots including Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
— THE OUTCOME of a meeting Wednesday of the foreign ministers of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council is eagerly awaited. Afghanistan and other major global challenges are expected to be on the agenda, including the lack of progress on the United States rejoining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran’s new foreign minister, Hossain Amir Abdollahian, is coming to New York and there is speculation that he may meet with the five countries that remain part of the deal — Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
World needs journalists more than ever: Mia Seppo
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo on Sunday said the world needs journalists more than ever to bring out truth while effectively dealing with the life-threatening misinformation.
“It’s ironic that in a moment with most access to information there’s an avalanche of life-threatening misinformation out there,” she said.
The UN official said the journalists have the responsibility to bring out truth, spread science-based facts that save lives, protect people and ensure rights. “That’s the power of your pen. Use that power as a force for good.”
The UN Resident Coordinator was addressing the “DCAB Talk” organized by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the Foreign Service Academy.
Also read: UN to provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh if requested: Mia Seppo
DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and its General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the “DCAB Talk” where UNRC Mia shared UN views on Rohingya and Afghanistan crises, issues related to Bhasan Char, climate change, sustainable and inclusive Covid recovery, Digital Security Act (DSA), gender issues and cooperation framework.
Mia said reports from journalists can help educate and clarify perceptions; as well as reconcile people and inspire patriotism.
UN to provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh if requested: Mia Seppo
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo on Sunday said the United Nations (UN) will provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh only if there is any request on that particular front.
“The UN doesn’t provide electoral assistance unless we’re asked to provide,” she said, adding that the whole process depends on requests for electoral assistance but the UN does not just step in on its own.
UNRC Mia said the UN stands ready to support under the framework of cooperation if there is any request forthcoming.
Also read: World needs journalists more than ever: Mia Seppo
The UN Resident Coordinator was responding to questions at “DCAB Talk” organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the Foreign Service Academy.
UN seeks $606 million for Afghanistan after Taliban takeover
The United Nations is hosting a high-level donors conference on Monday to drum up emergency funds for Afghanistan after last month’s Taliban takeover of the country that stunned the world.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was leading the world body’s call for more than $600 million for the rest of this year in a “flash appeal” for Afghans after their country’s government was toppled by the Taliban and U.S. and NATO forces exited the 20-year war in a chaotic departure.
There are concerns that instability and upended humanitarian efforts, compounded by an ongoing drought, could further endanger lives and plunge Afghanistan toward famine.
Also read: Afghanistan on brink of universal poverty: UN
The conference will put to the test some Western governments and other big traditional U.N. donors who want to help everyday Afghans without handing a public relations victory or cash to the Taliban, who ousted the internationally backed government in a lightning sweep.
The U.N. says “recent developments” have increased the vulnerability of Afghans who have already been facing decades of deprivation and violence. A severe drought is jeopardizing the upcoming harvest, and hunger has been rising. The U.N.’s World Food Program is to be a major beneficiary of any funds collected during Monday’s conference.
Along with its partners, the U.N. is seeking $606 million for the rest of the year to help 11 million people.
Coinciding with Monday’s conference in Geneva, the head of the U.N. refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, made a previously unannounced visit to Kabul. He wrote on Twitter that he would assess humanitarian needs and the situation of 3.5 million displaced Afghans — including over 500,000 who have been displaced this year alone.
Also read: Taliban guard airport as most NATO troops leave Afghanistan
Officials at UNHCR have expressed concerns that some people could try to seek refuge in what have been traditional havens for fleeing Afghans in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which both have large populations of Afghans who had fled their country earlier to escape war and violence.
The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, the day they overran Kabul after capturing outlying provinces in the blitz campaign. They initially promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents, but many Afghans remain deeply fearful of the new rulers. Taliban police officials have beaten Afghan journalists, violently dispersed women’s protests and formed an all-male government despite saying initially they would invite broader representation.
The world has been watching closely to see how Afghanistan under a Taliban government might be different from the first time the Islamic militants were in power, in the late 1990s. During that era, the Taliban imposed a harsh rule of their interpretation of Islamic law. Girls and women were denied an education, and were excluded from public life.
Also on Monday, a Pakistan International Airlines plane charted by the World Bank landed at Kabul’s airport to evacuate more people, according to Abullah Hafeez Khan, a spokesman for the airline. Pakistan has halted commercial flights to Kabul because of security reasons, and the airline has no plans so far to resume commercial flights.
Last Thursday, an estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a Qatar Airways flight out of Kabul with the cooperation of the Taliban — the first such large-scale departure since U.S. forces completed their frantic withdrawal on Aug. 30.
Many thousands of Afghans remain desperate to get out, too, afraid of what Taliban rule might hold. The Taliban have repeatedly said foreigners and Afghans with proper travel documents could leave. But their assurances have been met with skepticism, and many Afghans have been unable to obtain certain paperwork.
Abdul Hadi Hamdani, head of Kabul’s airport, said Monday that all domestic flights were back to their regular schedule but that “some technical problems need to be solved” before international flights can resume. Members of the border police who previously worked at the airport have been called back to resume their duties.
Civil society calls on UN to retain Myanmar Ambassador Tun's accreditation to UN
UN Member States must ensure that the current Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, retains his position as Myanmar’s representative to the UN, said 358 Myanmar and international civil society organizations on Monday.
They made the call in an open letter to members of the UN General Assembly.
On September 14, the UN’s Credentials Committee, comprised of nine UN Member States (including China, Russia and the United States), will meet to consider which of the competing submissions – Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun or the illegitimate military junta that has attempted a bloody coup since February – should be Myanmar’s representative at the UN.
Read:Myanmar leaders use pandemic as political weapon -
Since the attempted coup, the Ambassador has provided a crucial voice at the UN for the people of Myanmar and their legitimate government, the National Unity Government (NUG).
Following its deliberations, the Credentials Committee will submit its recommendations to the UN General Assembly.
Khin Ohmar, founder of Progressive Voice, said there is a real risk that complacency from UN member states could result in the Myanmar people being robbed of their rightful voice at the UN, or even in the military junta receiving official UN accreditation as representatives of the people they have murdered and tortured so mercilessly.
"We therefore need any UN member state that values humanity, peace and stability, and respects the will of the people, to reject - as the people of Myanmar categorically have - the military junta and its mass atrocities, and take a stand publicly in support of U Kyaw Moe Tun and the NUG.”
Since the February attempted coup, the military junta has killed 1,058, arrested 7,992, detained 6,343 (including 104 children), sentenced 118 people in absentia and 39 people to death in absentia, and has tortured and sexually assaulted countless more.
The junta has been unable to establish government functions or take effective control over the territory of Myanmar.
Instead of making attempt to control Covid-19, the junta has instead seized medical facilities, hoarded oxygen, persecuting healthcare professionals, and fired on crowds seeking assistance, resulting in an uncontrolled outbreak of the disease that jeopardises global efforts to control it.
Kasit Piromya, a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) and former Foreign Minister of Thailand said the junta is the very antithesis of the UN’s core values of peace, human rights, justice and social progress.
"Allowing it to sit at the UN would not only undermine any chance of seeing peace and democracy again in Myanmar, but would undermine the credibility of all UN efforts across the globe.”
Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect said Myanmar’s military is responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and continues to kill and arrest its own people for resisting the coup.
Read: Myanmar writes to Bangladesh explaining military takeover: FM
The UN General Assembly voted in June to condemn the excessive and lethal violence utilized by Myanmar's armed forces since 1 February 2021 and called upon the military to respect the will of the people.
"This denunciation sent a clear message from the international community that the actions taken by the junta are contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. No country should recognize or support the Myanmar’s military junta.”
Afghanistan on brink of universal poverty: UN
Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of "universal poverty" which could become a reality in the middle of next year unless urgent efforts are made to bolster local communities and their economies, the United Nations development agency has said.
It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk.
The UN Development Programme outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban's August 15 assumption of power that predict the country's total economic output will drop between 3.6% and 13.2% in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of the crisis and how much the world engages with the Taliban.
Read: Bangladesh waiting to see a permanent govt in Afghanistan
That is in sharp contrast to the expected 4% growth in GDP before the fall of the government.
"Afghanistan pretty much faces universal poverty by the middle of next year," Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP's Asia-Pacific director, told a news conference Thursday while launching its 28-page assessment.
"That is where we are heading – it is 97-98% (poverty rate) no matter how you work these projections," Kanni added.
Currently, the poverty rate is 72% and she pointed to many development gains after the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
Per capita income more than doubled in the last 20 years, life expectancy at birth was extended by about nine years, the number of years of schooling rose from six to 10, "and we got women into university," Kanni said.
Read: Policy towards Afghan depends on its attitude: FM
However, she said Afghanistan now faces "a humanitarian and development disaster" resulting from political instability, frozen foreign reserves, a collapsed public finance system, "a crush on local banking because of this," as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.