Statement by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma following his official visit to Bangladesh

It is a great pleasure for me to be here. This is my first visit to Bangladesh as Secretary-General. I am grateful for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to me and my delegation.

Bangladesh is a valued member of the Commonwealth and we greatly appreciate the commitment it has consistently shown to the organisation. This country has an impressive record in its social indicators – in education, health, women’s development. It has also maintained steady economic growth in recent times. It has been a world leader in micro-credit, especially for poor women entrepreneurs. These are commendable achievements, including in many of the priority sectors in the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth and Bangladesh are longstanding partners. We collaborate in a range of areas, such as strengthening the public sector through training of public servants in key areas; gender and development; training in disaster management; teacher training; or capacity building in trade competitiveness, and other diverse areas. The Commonwealth has also benefited from the training offered by many institutions in Bangladesh.

My visit has been short, but intense. I have met the Hon’ble Chief Adviser, the Foreign Adviser and the Chief Election Commissioner; I met other members of the Caretaker Government at the lunch so kindly hosted by my friend, Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury; I had a useful exchange with the Commonwealth High Commissioners. Just before coming here, I had the pleasure of addressing the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.

I received a detailed briefing from the Chief Election Commissioner and his team on the recently concluded voter registration exercise, and other preparations for the December polls. The registration of some 80 million voters, with photo ID cards, within a space of 18 months, is a very impressive result, for which both the Government and the Election Commission (EC) deserve recognition. We applaud this commitment and achievement.

My visit is not connected with the imminent elections as such. We have indeed received an invitation for the Commonwealth to observe those elections; in response to which we will send an assessment mission from the Commonwealth Secretariat in a couple of weeks’ time, in consultation with the Government. This team will try and consult all stakeholders and make its recommendations for the team of observers. However, the elections, and the proposed restoration of democratic governance in Bangladesh obviously did feature prominently in my discussions. The Commonwealth is an engaged strategic partner towards this goal.

This is not least because democracy and good governance are core Commonwealth principles and the restoration of representative democracy in Bangladesh is as important to the Commonwealth as it is to the people of Bangladesh themselves.

We welcome the fact that elections are taking place in December. The Caretaker Government deserves to be congratulated for having adhered to the roadmap it announced a long time ago and in realising its intent to hold a credible election. The stage is therefore set for the people of Bangladesh to decide once again who should govern them. This is a sacred trust that each voter must discharge.

I have also reiterated in my discussions the Commonwealth’s position that a state of emergency is inconsistent with a normal electoral process. It is important that the Caretaker Government and the Election Commission will together ensure that the elections take place in a climate of peace and security.

I am glad that political parties are in dialogue with the Election Commission and the Caretaker Government on the preparations for inclusive elections. This dialogue should ensure that any concerns can be addressed. But, this is about more than getting elections right. The features of genuine democracy are about the institutions and processes of good governance: an independent election commission, a representative and effective parliament, an independent judiciary, an efficient executive; an impartial national body to protect human rights; it is equally about developing the culture of democracy, together with the values that go with it: tolerance and respect for the opinions of others, transparency, integrity and accountability.

We also welcome the decision to create an independent Human Rights Commission, in which objective the Commonwealth is also an active collaborator. Such a Commission is a key national safeguard in the protection and advancement of the rights of citizens, a core Commonwealth objective. The decision concerning judicial appointments is also an important step in this direction, and in the spirit of the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles on the Three Branches of Government. We also welcome the introduction of a Right to Information Act and the creation of a local government commission.

Intrinsic to the exercise of democracy is that losers too are drawn into – and themselves willingly cooperate in – the task of nation building. The Commonwealth therefore places enormous emphasis on the relationship between Government and Opposition, where the former knows the limits of executive authority, the latter understands the role of constructive opposition, and both respect their accountability to the people.

This will ensure that the real challenges of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, disease, gender inequality, environmental degradation, marginalisation, extremism and intolerance are meaningfully addressed in a society, especially at this difficult time of cumulative internal and external challenges.

The Commonwealth looks forward to a bright and enduring democratic future for the people of Bangladesh.