Bangladesh

Intervention by Bangladesh at the 10th session of OWG on Cluster VIII: Focus Area 19, 4 April 2014 Mr. Co-Chair, Having peaceful and non-violent societies, ensuring rule of law, building effective institutions - are critical for every society and state. There cannot be any country to dispute it and not recognize the vitality of achieving the noble and high objectives - nationally, impinging all possible Goals and Targets. Across the board, we heard that peaceful and non-violent societies are ultimately critical for poverty eradication, sustained and inclusive economic growth. But, we need to recognize that, the targets suggested are ‘foundational’ elements. We also need to accept that SDGs are about development. It’s a development agenda that we are focused on. And, as many have said: the best and most comprehensive antidote to poverty is by having robust, comprehensive developmental efforts, not by adopting securitization of development approach! So, while we do recognize these elements, on the question of having this proposed Goal as a stand-alone Goal, we however do not consider it in order. The suggested targets like provisions for public services, public finances, strengthened local government, etc. – could best be taken care of through other Focus Areas. We would believe that these targets would better be considered and subsumed through a balanced, realistic narrative, recognized as enablers for development and spread over other agreed Goals. Over the next weeks, our delegation remains ready to engage further on seeing how some of the relevant elements could best be captured across the overall framework. Thank you Co-Chair.