This article analyzes Bangladesh's approach to the UN, including Sheikh Hasina's recent signature of the Rome Statute.

THE INDEPENDENT

Tuesday, September 21, 1999

Bangladesh's vision for the UN in the 21st century

By Abul Hasan Chowdhury

When the United Nations was established a little over fifty years ago, the founding fathers were motivated by a timeless vision of a world free from conflict and injustices. This vision was enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations with the words "to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war". The efforts in the United Nations since its inception were primarily focused on the peaceful settlement of disputes and to use its resources and energies, in avoiding another global conflict. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of the United States had once remarked, "the primary, the fundamental, the essential purpose of the United Nations is to keep peace. Everything it does which helps prevent World War III is good.

Everything which does not further that goal, either directly or indirectly, is at best superfluous". The United Nations has undergone the test of time and has vindicated its existence as the only international organisation that enjoys the confidence of the entire international community in the area of global peacemaking and peacekeeping. The people of Bangladesh fought their War of Independence based on a set of principles that were fully consistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Our freedom struggle was for our inalienable right to self-determination and inspired by our strong

commitment to democracy and respect for human rights. In his address to the United Nations on September 25, 1974 the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman clearly stated our foreign policy objectives . He said " The Bengali people have fought over the centuries so that they may secure for themselves the right to live in freedom and with dignity as free citizens of a free country. They have aspired to live in peace and friendship with all the nations of the world. The noble ideals enshrined in the United Nations Charter are the very ideals for which millions of our people have made the supreme sacrifice". The Father of the Nation left no

doubts of Bangladesh's unfettered adherence to the goals and principle of the UN Charter. The United Nations has charted many a difficult strait in its journey of more than half a century. From the very beginning, the organisation was faced with difficult challenges created by Cold War confrontation. There were occasions such as the Bay of Pigs crisis when the world came to the brink of a nuclear war. The UN had to keep itself preoccupied with negotiations on arms control, limitation, disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. The other major challenge before the United Nations was to help in bringing about an equitable international economic and social environment for the well-being of human beings all over the world. The widening gap between the rich and the poorer nations posed a threat to international peace and security. The developing countries, the Least Developed Countries in particular, which comprises more than one fifth of the entire population, lived in

poverty conditions. The social facilities in terms of education, health, recreation etc. were negligible at best. Furthermore, the developing countries were saddled with the problems of overpopulation, unemployment, poor infrastructure, insufficient capital and lack of technology. The United Nations had to pursue an agenda to bring about a North-South dialogue for promoting understanding of the conditions faced in the South and to sensitise the developed countries of their responsibilities towards addressing the issue. Till today, the North-South dialogue had remained elusive. The end of the Cold War in the beginning of the present decade brought about great transformations in international relations. The ideological divide on account of the East-West confrontation was no more, bringing about a welcome relief in de-escalation of tensions.

The USA and the Russian Federation agreed to a timetable to inspect, limit and destroy nuclear warheads. They also agreed not to point the warheads towards each other. There were marked improvement in other areas as well. Institutionalised racial discrimination carried out in South Africa under the hated system of apartheid was demolished. New hopes for peace in the Middle East emerged with the launching of the Middle East Peace Process. Hopes were also high among the developing countries that the international community would find greater opportunities to devote their time and energies on development issues. The time for the United Nations to

decide on the agenda for the 21st century had begun since the beginning of the present decade. One could envisage that issues of international terrorism, drug abuse and its illicit trafficking, human rights, degradation of the environment, poverty alleviation, empowerment of women, development under the aegis of South-South Cooperation etc would feature prominently in that agenda. Paradoxically, the end of the Cold War also brought in new threats to global peace and security. The virulent ethnic hatred unleashed in different regions of the world, in particular those in Europe and Africa produced human rights abuses of horrific magnitude. The

nuclearisation of South Asia has once again raised the validity of disarmament as priority in international relations. Bangladesh has been associated for twenty-five out of the 54 years, with the United Nations.

Although more than often we have been subjected to negative publicity in the international media, our esteem and profile in the United Nations on account of our proactive role is envious. Our active role in various UN activities and programmes convinced the international community to repose their confidence in us to take on responsibilities in the areas of international peace and socio-economic development. Members of the Bangladesh armed forces taking part in UN peacekeeping operations made a lasting impression by their commitment and professionalism. As we move ahead into the 21st century, there is every likelihood that Bangladesh would have to take a larger share in international peacekeeping operations. Today, as the last few remaining days of the present millennium pass by, the question that is in the minds of many is not on the validity of the United Nations but on how effective a role it would play in the 21st century. It is in the interest of Bangladesh to see an effective and decisive United Nations

and one which would put its machinery into action to address the development issues facing the great majority of the earth's population as well as to pursue an agenda of peace. Bangladesh is hoping to get elected to the non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for the term 2000-2001. If we succeed, it would provide us with an opportunity to take part in the decision making process on the most important and crucial issues before the UN in the early years of the 21st century. Bangladesh and

the rest of the member-states of the United Nations must continue to be inspired by the vision of sparing the world of another global conflict. We are constitutionally committed to a complete and general disarmament and, therefore, it falls upon us to support all international legal regimes that support this objective. This is also a major foreign policy objective of the present government in Bangladesh. Since assuming power, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has propounded an agenda for peace both at home and abroad. The signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord and the 30-Year Agreement with India on the Sharing of the Ganges River Waters are two of

her most remarkable achievements at home. Prime Minister Hasina had also taken her message of peace to the United Nations in 1996 when she signed the landmark Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This further cemented Bangladesh's adherence to other international disarmament regimes including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) the Chemical Weapons Convention( CWC) in 1997 and the Convention on Biological and Toxic Weapons (BTWC).Another bold initiative taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government in the area of disarmament was to sign the Convention on the prohibition of use, production, stockpiling and transfer of Anti-personnel mines. Bangladesh is the only South Asian Country to have signed the APM treaty. It has been argued by many that landmines are effective deterrents

against external aggression. It is cost- effective and therefore a valid option for the developing countries for defence purposes. The Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was motivated by the inhumane nature of landmines and the horrifying sufferings that are caused to the civilian population by way of maiming and disabling. It was on these grounds that Bangladesh joined 134 countries which have signed the APM for the sake of peace. Bangladesh has also voted in favour of adopting the statute of an International Criminal Court at the Rome Diplomatic Conference in 1997.

Once again, Bangladesh was the only South Asian country to have voted in favour of the ICC in Rome. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's participation in the Hague Peace Conference in May 1999 was yet another instance of her

commitment to peace. At the Hague Peace Conference, she called for the renunciation of all nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and urged the international community to establish a culture of peace and development. She reiterated Bangladesh's position that absence of war does not necessarily ensure peace. True and enduring peace can only be achieved when the existing socio-economic inequalities among nations are eliminated.

To achieve this we would have to develop a culture of peace and development. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the UN and in other international forums has called for the observance of the year 2000 as the Year of the Culture of Peace and 2001-2010 as the Decade of Culture of Peace. The conferring of the prestigious UNESCO Peace Prize Award to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this year is a fitting recognition to her contribution to international peace and development. Her leadership has earned for Bangladesh the reputation of a nation committed to peace. It can be well expected that Bangladesh will be deeply involved in the UN peace agenda of the 21st century. It would be necessary for Bangladesh to work closely with the United Nations for successful implementation of the Culture of Peace that is envisaged for the early years of the 21st century.

-UNIC, Dhaka(To be continued)

The writer is Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh.