Post 2015 dev agenda: Human rights, inequalities should be main concern
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Dhaka, Apr 1 (UNB) – Ensuring human rights and addressing inequalities worldwide should be the main concern in fixing the post-2015 development agenda, said the development activists at a discussion in the city on Tuesday. “The World Bank sets the poverty threshold of earning US$ 1.25 a day. Even if the things go on ‘business as usual’, it would be achieved in any way. So, it can’t be the goal to press the governments to accelerate the poverty eradication efforts,” said Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, a global civil society alliance working in more than 100 countries. Criticising the World Bank’s definition of poverty at the discussion, he said it is a mere income approach of defining poverty. The panel discussion, titled ‘Post 2015 Development Agenda: Future Global Development Partnership’, organised jointly by EquityBD, Social Watch Bangladesh and Unnayan Samunnay at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on Tuesday. In his keynote paper, Bissio mentioned that there is a big hypocrisy within GDP approach, as it does not reflect the growing inequalities between different classes within a population and in the country or international level. He expressed worries about the recent developed countries’ position on private sector role in the development assistance and said that in fact, it is for market expansion of multinational companies in developing countries. “And also it is an approach of risk compensation to those companies in developing countries. Official development assistance from developed countries must go to the poor directly without any involvement of private sector companies,” Bissio said. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD, Ahmed Swapan of VOICE, Aminur Rasul of Unnayan Dhara Trust, Prodip K Roy of Online Knowledge Society, Dr Sohel Iqbal and Badrul Alam of Bangladesh Krishak Federation (BKF), and Barkat Ullah Maruf of EquityBD, among others, spoke at the discussion. See more at: http://unbconnect.com/human-rights/#&panel1-5 |
