Statement by H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh, at the General Debate of the Third Committee of the 71st Session of the UNGA on ‘Advancement of women on 11 October 2016
Thank you Madam Chair. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: Good Afternoon My delegation aligns itself with the statement made by Kingdom of Thailand on behalf of G77 and China. Madam Chair, Bangladesh attaches highest importance to the advancement of women. Our efforts are guided by the vision of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who desired to transform the country into a prosperous country where women would participate side by side with men for the nation building. Under the leadership of his able daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, women empowerment has been placed at the heart of our development agenda. Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in advancing women under her leadership and been regarded as the role model for the advancement of women in the world. As a recognition, for the advancement of Women, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was awarded Planet 50-50 Champion” by UN-Women and “Agent of Change Award” by Global Partnership Forum on 21 September, 2016. Madam Chair, The spirit of Beijing declaration and Platform for action guided us to chart our National Women Development policy and a National plan of action. Our performance with gender-related MDGs has been widely recognized. We have attained gender parity in primary and secondary school enrolment. To encourage female education, the Government has made education free for girls up to Grade 12 and has plans to take it to graduate level. Every year, our Government presents a gender responsive budget to the Parliament along with the National Budget. In the current fiscal year, 40 Ministries reported on their work on women’s advancement. Our manufacturing especially the readymade Garments sector is basically run by women more than 95% of all garment workers are female. The women workforce in our job market jumped from 7% in 2000 to over 36% now.
Madam Chair, In our National Parliament of 350 members, 50 seats are reserved for women, while women can also take part in the direct election. The country has introduced a role of women in Nation Building as elected representatives. Bangladesh today is perhaps one of the few countries in the world that has a woman Prime Minister a woman Leader of the Opposition, woman Speaker and a woman Leader and Deputy Leader of the House. Madam Chair, Bangladesh is committed to contribute to the work of UN in advancing of women too.It is Bangladesh who tabled the historic Security Council resolution 1325 ‘Women, Peace and Security’ in 2000 as the then President of Security Council. Through this resolution, woman has been integrated with the work of international peace and security— which is one of three pillars of the UN. Madam Chair, Gender equality and women’s empowerment are inextricably linked to sustainable development. Gender equality and women’s empowerment, is a stand-alone goal ( Goal-5) in 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and a cross-cutting issue in all of the SDGs. As such, it requires appropriate and effective implementation and follow-up at the national, regional and international levels. Migrants, especially women and girls, are affected by the major crises that mark today’s world and are exposed to heightened risks of human rights violations and vulnerabilities. Women and girl migrants are particularly vulnerable when they are undocumented.Therefore, migration is to be intrinsically linked to advancing gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s and girls’ human rights. Bangladesh calls for greater emphasis at all levels in addressing violence against women and girls. Further action must be taken to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls through strengthening of institutional mechanisms, legal frameworks and financing. Madam Chair, At the end I would like to appreciate the work of UN Women in supporting efforts of developing countries in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reaffirm the importance of State Parties to comply with their international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), is a body for which Bangladesh is a current member. We would like to commend H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General for his consistent commitment and all his achievement to the cause of gender equality and women’s empowerment. We look forward to next Secretary-General will carry on this good work with a view to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment at inside. I thank you all.