Eminent citizens stress good governance for SDGs

They said this at a press briefing on formation of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh in Dhaka.
‘The state has been taking law in its own hand ignoring everything,’ Transparency International Bangladesh chairperson Sultana Kamal said at the programme.
She said human rights ‘are often violated when there is lack of good governance’, which was essential for implementation of the SDGs.
‘Some people want to know from us why we talk after each killing in crossfire,’ she said, adding that these people say the persons, who were killed in crossfire, did not have any human right as they violated the same rights of other people.
When people begin to think in that way in desperation to survive, Sultana said, it remains no longer a modern, progressive and democratic state.
This situation only creates an atmosphere conducive to corruption and violation of rule of law, she elaborated.
Development of a state cannot be measured by only counting growth matrix keeping aside good governance and human rights, she added.
The UN-backed SDGs contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, an NGO, said good governance ‘is the biggest challenge in the country now’. Many things have been happening, but hardly any strong voice was there to raise question about these incidents, she said.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, stressed the need for comprehensive and collective efforts to implement the SDGs to form an inclusive society with the global idea of ‘leaving no one behind’.
Businessperson Asif Ibrahim said private sector ‘wants to play’ an important role in greening industries and effective employment by creating graceful jobs.
TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said the government would play supportive role in implementing the SDGs as well ensuring accountability in the implementation process.
He hoped the government would take the role of the citizen’s platform with a positive attitude.
Mustafizur Rahman of Centre for Policy Dialogue, Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury of BRAC and Rasheda K Chowdhury of Campaign for Popular Education, among others, spoke at the briefing.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net