29 May International Day Of .United Nations Peacekeepers Bottom Line Bangladesh

The International Day for UN Peacekeepers is being observed on May 29 across the world including Bangladesh.
The purpose of observing the Day is:
* to underscore the importance to maintain global peace;
* to pay tribute to those who  were/are involved in the peacekeeping missions;
* to honour the UN peacekeepers who lost their lives for peace.
There have been about 67 UN peacekeeping operations since the first supervision of the 1948 truce between Arab states and Israel. Their white four-wheel-drive vehicles and their blue helmets render them familiar. A total 112,776 peacekeepers from 116 countries are currently working in the UN’s 16 missions in four continents.
Peacekeepers are on duty wherever the UN is called on to solve problems too big for local authority. They are there to maintain peace and protect civilians. They work with governments to enforce peace and monitor human rights and often the conduct of elections. They are sent to a country as a result of a decision made by 15 members of the UN Security Council.
It is interesting to note that although there is no provision in the UN Charter on peacekeeping missions,  it started in 1948 by the Security Council when UN observers were sent to monitor truce between Arab States and Israel.
However with the dynamism of UN Secretary General late Dag Hammarskjöld, the peacekeeping mission was expanded and now has been the most successful visible programmes of the UN with a full department of peacekeeping operations headed by an Under-Secretary General.
Peacekeeping mission arguably falls in between Chapter VI (peaceful settlement of disputes) and Chapter VII (action with respect to threats of peace) of the UN Charter.
Bangladesh’s participation in the UN peacekeeping missions has become an important component of foreign policy and the country has attained a good standing in the comity of nations. Bangladesh’s commitment to peace is demonstrated by its contribution to the UN peacekeeping missions.
This year, Bangladesh has stepped into 25th year of participation in UN peacekeeping mission across the world. Bangladesh uniformed personnel have set values, norms and professionalism wherever they went. Their role was admired by successive Secretaries General of the UN.
In 1988, Bangladesh first joined the UN peacekeeping mission with only 15 military observers.   As of May 2013, there are 8,826 Bangladesh soldiers and officers serving the UN in various conflict zones of the world. At least an additional contingent of 600 Bangladesh troops will join the United Nations peacekeeping operations soon.. That will take the total strength of the Bangladesh troops in the UN peace-keeping operations close to 9,500.
Bangladeshi army General led the peacekeeping mission in Mozambique in 1994 and another army General in Georgia in 2002.  One Bangladeshi General led the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
Since the peacekeeping missions are often in hostile environment, there have been casualties of Bangladeshi peacekeepers.  As of September 2012, a total of 109 brave peacekeepers (including one woman army major) from Bangladesh died for the cause of world peace, security and humanity and 142 injured.
Bangladesh provided to the UN until May 2012, three Bell-22 helicopters, one MI-17 helicopter, one C-130 transport aircraft, a Frigate and an Off-shore Patrol Vessel to the UN for peacekeeping purpose.
Besides male keepers, Bangladesh sent women peacekeepers from air force and police Women keepers from police were sent to Haiti in 2010. “According to the UN mandate, our activities in quake-ravaged Haiti will be providing humanitarian activities besides community policing.  We will also provide primary education, primary healthcare, protection on violence against women, prevention of HIV, Aids training and so on,” said Rokeya Sultana, who would command the women’s contingent.
Bangladesh can hold its head high in the global arena because the Bangladeshi uniformed personnel have earned the gratitude of millions in lands, mostly in Africa, far distant from Bangladesh They have helped restore tranquility and peace in many war-torn parts of the globe and have ushered in an era of hope in countries which had only known despair and war.
During the UN General Assembly session in 2012, the Secretary General Ban ki-moon conveyed their appreciation of the role of Bangladesh peacekeeping forces to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while she was attending the session of the GA of the UN.  Bangladesh became a member of a UN board for peacekeeping missions.
Bangladesh has earned the position of the Chair of the UN Peace-building Commission and the Membership of Peace-Building Fund.
Peacekeeping mission is to be distinguished from peace-making and peace-building missions.
Peace-making is usually aimed at cessation of hostilities and restoration of peace while peacekeeping is to maintain peace, agreed between parties. That means once peace is restored, peacekeeping is to ensure that peace remains in the area.
Peace-building refers to efforts aimed at economic development, institution building, and more generally the creation or restoration within the countries of the conditions necessary to make them stable and peaceful after wars. It may involve rehabilitation of people and reconstruction of infrastructures. Peace-building after war is to help ensure there is no recurrence of war.
In future Bangladesh uniformed personnel may have to participate in the UN peace-making or peace-building missions of the UN. In the light of this, Bangladesh armed forces need rigorous training on the methods or mechanisms used for peace-making or peace-building.
At present 116 member-states contribute to the peacekeeping missions and interaction among peacekeepers from highest to lowest level is carried out in English/French.  In this regard appropriate training together with learning and speaking in English language with ease and fluency may have to be provided by the Institute of Peace Support Operation Training for the Bangladeshi ordinary soldiers at Rajendrapur to carry out their work effectively.
The ultimate aim of any UN peacekeeping mission is to ensure that peacekeeping mission is no longer necessary so that people can live in peace, security and with dignity.

The writer is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.

Dhaka Rajuk role in question Chittagong highway at Siddhirganj in Narayanganj

Noted architects and civil engineers blame catastrophic building disasters like Rana Plaza collapse on lack of effective control of Rajuk over building construction and government’s foot-dragging over approving required manpower.
Since 2007, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has had five designated officials in a committee responsible for approving building construction in Savar.
The committee, comprised of a board member, an assistant director and an executive engineer of Rajuk, assistant chief architect of department of architecture and a government-appointed authorised officer, has a revised jurisdiction over Turag, part of Ashulia and Tongi and Gazipur Sadar in April this year.
But they never appeared to enforce building law there, said Mubasshar Hussein, president of Institute of Architects Bangladesh.
It is apprehended that the building law, safety precautions and mandatory Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) have not been followed in constructing thousands of buildings in Savar and other fringe areas of the capital, he said.
Authorised Officer Md Helal Ahmed said they inspected approval of only around 50 buildings in Savar over the past several months and could not check all the buildings due to lack of adequate number of inspectors. He said it was not possible to ascertain the number of illegal buildings in Savar without a survey.
Rajuk chairman Md Nurul Huda said they could not control construction of buildings beyond the city’s core area due to lack of manpower. They also could not go for enforcing building law in areas like Savar because of “vehement opposition” by local municipal authorities.
But Mubasshar said Rajuk did lodge a case against Rana Plaza owner for the collapse, which claimed more than 1,100 lives, for violating Building Construction Act and the BNBC. It proves Rajuk is the authority responsible for enforcing laws there.
He rejected the Rajuk chairman’s excuse, saying there are scores of example of illegal high-rise buildings even in the capital’s core area, where Rajuk has remained mysteriously silent. “So, the excuse is unacceptable.”
Rajuk chairman said they placed a revised organogram to the government seeking increase in manpower from 1,087 to 1,980 but it took two and half years to get approval from housing and public works ministry, finance ministry and the cabinet.
Then it took six months for public administration ministry to approve the recruitment rules and they have to further wait for law ministry’s vetting, he said, the new organogram will add 200 inspectors to existing 40, 20 authorised officers to 4, and 7 executive magistrates to one.
As to long delay in endorsing required manpower, Abdul Mannan Khan, state minister for housing and public works, said it was due to financial constraints and long bureaucratic process involving finance, planning and public administration ministries.
Rajuk is legally responsible to control development within its 1,528-square kilometres area of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (master plan) as per Town Improvement Act.
“Rajuk has taken upon itself too heavy a load,” said noted civil engineer Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, “It should disaggregate responsibility.”
Evasive role of Rajuk and defiant role of local government bodies have paved the way for an unspecified number of illegal buildings creeping up in Savar, Tongi, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Keraniganj, Fatullah, Demra and Sabujbagh, official documents show.
Meanwhile, various municipal authorities, including that of Savar, have approved hundreds of buildings within Rajuk jurisdiction even though they lack technical manpower as required by laws.
As per Building Construction Act and BNBC, only an authorised officer along with a building construction committee of Rajuk can approve a building design within an area of an approved master plan.
Such approval also requires supervision by enlisted architect, structural engineer, geotechnical engineer, a town planner as per laws and above all a set of rules. But a Pourashava lacks all of those.
The municipality ordinance has a sketchy provision for building approval by municipalities. Rajuk wrote to Savar mayor in January this year asking him not to approve building designs within Rajuk’s jurisdiction.
The nine-story Rana Plaza was built with a municipality approval for five stories and is located within Rajuk master plan.

Bangladesh Confusion over next Annual Development Programme size

Confusion shrouds the size of the next fiscal year’s Annual Development Programme, after the National Economic Council has included expenditures of various autonomous bodies in the ADP.
Such a move is unprecedented, and a planning ministry official said it was done on government’s instructions so that the ADP size looks bigger ahead of the next general election.
According to a planning ministry statement, the size of the approved ADP is Tk 73,984 crore, which includes TK 8,114 crore for development projects of autonomous bodies.
But Planning Secretary Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam contradicted the statement, saying: “The size of the actual ADP is TK 65,870 crore. But allocations for various autonomous bodies will be shown separately.”
The Tk 65,870-crore ADP, as the planning secretary put it, is 25.78 percent bigger than the revised budget of the current fiscal year.
Interestingly, the ADP size and the sector-wise allocation ratio shown in the ministry’s statement do not match.
According to the statement, of the Tk 73,984 crore, transport sector got Tk 15,374 crore, which is 23.34 percent of the ADP.
TK 15,374 crore is in fact 20.78 percent (not 23.34 percent) of TK 73,984 crore. It can be 23.34 percent if the calculation is done on Tk 65,870 crore.
Responding to journalists’ queries at the planning ministry, Planning Minister AK Khandker yesterday said the inclusion of autonomous bodies’ expenditures was not done with a political intent.
He added that people had the right to know the expenditure of various autonomous bodies and it was included in the ADP this year to uphold that right.

Price Double the Budget says Bangladesh Government audit report year 2010-11

The value of illegally occupied forestland across the country is around Tk 2,74,902 crore, double the budget for fiscal year 2010-11, says a government audit report.
However, the current market price of the grabbed forestland is much higher than the amount estimated according to government-fixed rates, says the report on forest management in Bangladesh by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The country’s forests continue to be depleted due to illegal logging, smuggling of timber, land grabbing in the name of setting up industries, and lack of proper management of industrial waste, it says.
The report notes that forest management in the country is seriously hampered by lack of coordination between the DoE and the ministries and divisions concerned. The report has been placed in parliament.
 Mohammed Younus Ali, chief conservator of forests (CCF) at the Department of Forest, said it was true that some forestland were still being occupied by land grabbers.
But the figures mentioned in the audit report were not “absolutely accurate” as they were based on seven-year-old findings. And the situation had changed a lot in the last four years, he said.
Younus said the Department of Land Survey and the district administration had been informed about the illegal occupation of forestland, but no action was taken against the land grabbers.
According to him, land survey is done by temporary staff, and there are many instances where one’s land has been recorded against someone else’s name. And the chances of such discrepancies are much higher in case of government land.
Citing an example, he said about 10,000 acres of forest department land in Gazipur had been recorded against the names of individuals.
The report says forests account for 17 percent of the country’s total land. Only 9.77 percent of land is entirely covered by forests while about 4.45 percent are in the hands of land grabbers. Deputy commissioners have been lax in taking measures to recover the occupied forestland.
According to Bangladesh Environment Protection Act, 1995, no industrial unit can be set up on any forestland or close to it without a no-objection certificate from the Directorate of Environment (DoE).
Of the 299 industries in Bhawal National Garden, only 24 got clearances from the DoE. And at least 161 industries there release hazardous waste, causing harm to the forest’s bio-diversity.
Though the environment and forest ministry in 1999 made it illegal for any building, structure, agricultural farm or fishery to be set up there, at least 201 industries were installed in the area after the ministry issued the order.
However, the Department of Forest told the CAG office that those industries were installed on approval from the Board of Investment and the district administration.
The industrial units include readymade garments, dyeing, painting and textiles, pharmaceuticals, and lubricant factories, and cattle farms.
The report says forestland has been grabbed not only in Bhawal National Garden but all over the country as well.  Moreover, the state exchequer is being deprived of a huge amount of revenue due to destruction of forest resources and smuggling of timber.
The DoF deposited Tk 235 crore to the state exchequer by selling around 18.44 lakh cubic feet of timber it had seized from smugglers in the 10 years from 1999. However, it was a small fraction of the timber that is smuggled every year.
The report is based on the data that the CAG office collected in 10 years between the fiscal years 1999-2000 to 2008-09.

Stop killing-game Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday warned Khaleda Zia

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday warned Khaleda Zia that she would not succeed in toppling the government by killing people; rather she would be lost from politics.
“Stop this game of overthrowing government by killing people. You can’t do this; rather you will be lost from politics,” she said while addressing a rally at Mawa Golchattar in Munshiganj.
The premier said the opposition leader had thrown a 48-hour ultimatum, saying that after 48 hours, the government would not find a way to flee.
“I want to ask her [Khaleda] from where she had got the power to throw such challenge to the government,” she added.
She also said that the opposition had wanted to topple the government to save the war criminals.
Hasina alleged that the opposition leader had invited Hefajat-e Islam and also provided arms to Jamaat-e-Islami men and her party cadres to kill innocent people for ousting the government.
She asked the opposition leader to remain in the path of democracy, saying “Otherwise, you will lose the soil from under your feet. You can not imagine where you will slip down.”
The premier, however, thanked the opposition leader for supporting her party’s candidate in the upcoming city corporation polls.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, AL presidium member Nuh-Ul Alam Lenin, joint secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, organising secretary Ahmed Hossain, Munshiganj district Awami League president Mohiuddin Ahmed and general secretary Lutfar Rahman, among others, also spoke at the rally.
The rally was organised by Lauhajang Awami League with its president Fakir Mohammad Abdul Hamid in the chair.

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus Centre refutes Finance Minister’s Muhith comments

The Yunus Centre yesterday contradicted the finance minister’s recent comment that none of the social business organisations set up by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has any institutional foundation. It said all the social business companies are registered with the office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, and have all relevant permissions and licences to operate.

The following is the Yunus Centre’s response to some of the claims the minister made about social business, its future and Grameenphone on Sunday.

The finance minister’s remark: None of the social business organisations have any institutional foundation.

Response: All of the social business companies are registered with the Registrar of joint stock companies and have all the relevant permissions and licences from the government ministries, agencies, and regulatory authorities to operate. All social businesses companies hold their regular board meetings and are audited externally on an annual basis. They all pay taxes regularly. The GB Inquiry Commission is in possession of all documents from Grameen social businesses and can verify this easily.

The minister’s remark:  We do not know what will happen when Prof Yunus leaves these institutions.

Response: The social business organisations have all been founded by Prof Yunus. Each company has its own separate management structure, headed by its CEO and his/her competent staff. These companies will continue to operate according to the by-laws of each company, on the basis of which they were formed, into the future, as is the case for all companies that operate in the land.

The minister’s remark:  Prof Yunus is also making social investments like selling yoghurt for improving public health status but these are mainly non-profit ventures.

Response: Grameen Danone produces and sells fortified yoghurt for reducing malnutrition among children. Like other social businesses this is also a for-profit business where the owners never take out any dividends, except to recoup the initial invested amount.

It is wrong to say that “these are mainly non-profit ventures”, because they are for-profit ventures where owners don’t take any dividend by their own choice.

All the social business companies are profit making companies. In a social business, the investors/owners only recoup the money initially invested by them, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company; no personal gain is desired by the investors. That is the basic concept of social business.

Many companies founded in earlier years by Prof Yunus were designed as section 28 companies, which do not have owners. These are companies limited by guarantee. These do not fall in the category of social business since they don’t have any owners.

The minister’s remark:  Prof Yunus had spent all the dividends from GP in the social business companies.

Response: Grameen Telecom, not Prof Yunus, has received profits from GP, as owner of GP. Grameen Telecom donated this money to Grameen Telecom Trust. The trust has invested some of this money, not spent, in social business companies that aim to help solve specific social problems faced by the poor people, especially women.

The minister’s remark:  But when Dr Yunus established GP he said all of its profits will go to Grameen Bank (GB). But GB did not get any benefit.

Response: GP never had any agreement with the government to give away money to anyone. The government gave telephone licence to GP, not to Prof Yunus. If government had wanted to put any pre-condition for license, this would have had to be incorporated in the licence agreement, and the government could sue the company if they violated any such condition.

To our knowledge no such pre-condition was ever discussed let alone imposed.  If any pre-condition exists beyond our knowledge, government should sue GP, instead of making complaints about violation.

The minister’s remark: I think in the last 20 years GB has got at best Tk 200 crore from GP. The rest went to social investment projects.

Response: Grameen Bank does not own a single share in GP. Since GB is not a shareholder of GP, why would GP give any money to GB, leave alone Tk 200 crore. Grameen Telecom receives the dividend from GP, as part owner of GP. It did not receive this money from GP as a favour.

The minister’s remark:  The in-charges of these companies have all been hand-picked by Prof Yunus.

Response: All the heads of Grameen companies are appointed by the board of each company according to the company laws. These are all recorded in board decisions.

The minister’s remark:  Prof Yunus’ recommendation to raise the wage of garment workers in Bangladesh in line with international standards is unrealistic.

Response: Prof Yunus’ proposal is to create international minimum wage for each garment exporting country, by the international buyers, individually, or in groups, or collectively, on a voluntary basis, so that element of exploitation of poor workers is removed. He proposed that 50 cent per hour could be an acceptable level of such international minimum wage for Bangladesh.

Prof Yunus did not ask the government or anyone else to “impose” such minimum wage. He is campaigning for voluntary acceptance of the concept of international minimum wage by the buyers. The idea has been lauded internationally, as a practical solution to the existing exploitative wage in an international sector of business.

Bangladesh BNP-led 18-party Hartal today

The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforces another daylong hartal across the country today, demanding withdrawal of the cases against BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman.
The fresh spell of strikes comes amid an unofficial ban on political meetings and rallies, and will cause fresh disruptions in economic and educational activities.
Unlike previous hartals, pre-hartal violence took place outside the capital yesterday.
Pickets vandalised at least 40 vehicles and torched five more and blasted around 30 crude bombs in Narayanganj, Kishoreganj, Feni, Faridpur and Bogra, report our district correspondents.
In the capital, at least six vehicles were set ablaze.
In Chashara of Narayanganj, activists of Jubo Dal, the pro-BNP youth wing, clashed with police in the afternoon, leaving at least five people injured.
In Chittagong, police cordoned the main opposition party’s city office at Nasimon Bhaban when party men tried to bring out a torch procession in support of today’s hartal.
BNP activists hurled four crude bombs when police tried to halt the procession, police said.
Police fired several teargas shells to disperse the BNP men, said Mohiuddin Selim, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station. Two BNP activists were detained from the spot.
With today’s one, the BNP-Jamaat alliance would have enforced 30 countrywide daylong hartals in the last five months, in addition to a couple of dozens in different districts.
One study shows 15 days of these shutdown cost the economy $3 billion, the money that could finance the construction of Padma bridge. The costs do not take into account the killing of people and the damage done to public and private property.
According to another study, each day’s hartal causes a loss of around $200 million. The estimated annual average cost of hartals is between 3 percent and 4 percent of the country’s $110 billion gross domestic product (GDP).
The two studies were done by the UNDP and the International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh.
The issue of Tarique Rahman, BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s elder son, came to the fore after a court on Saturday gave permission to the Anti-Corruption Commission to issue arrest warrant for him through the Interpol and bring him back to put on trial for “money laundering”.
BNP’s local units have already enforced daylong hartals on Sunday and Monday in nine districts protesting the court order.
This month, Jamaat has enforced two daylong hartals across the country while today’s is the fourth by the 18-party alliance.