BANGLADESH

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has presented a peace-centric development model before the world.

Addressing the 66th UN General Assembly on Saturday, she outlined her "People's empowerment and a peace-centric development model", which she said was inspired by her own life-time experiences.

"Throughout my half a century in politics, I have always been a crusader of peace. I believe that peace is achievable with the removal of injustice," she said.

These injustices include repression and absence of rule of law, inequality and economic disparity, deprivation and poverty, suppression of self determination, denial of secularism and multi-ethnicity, negligence of equal rights for women and the marginalised, as well as the lack of transparency and accountability of governments, she said.

These injustices have led to the loss of over 5 million lives from 1964 to 2011, she said.

"I believe these deaths could be avoided by strengthening the UN's mediation instruments, and by placing people at the centre of peace and development," Hasina said.

She said that UN's successes have reinforced the belief that it is still the most legitimate, universally accepted international body in the 21st century, with the ability to harness global collective will for the peaceful settlement of disputes through mediation.

Palestine has submitted its plea for membership as a state in this session of the assembly. In his speech to the assembly, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called upon Israel to mutual peace.

Hasina cited the words "Friendship towards all, malice towards none" and "peaceful settlement of disputes", which were spoken by her father, the then prime minister of Bangladesh and the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the same podium 37 years ago, and said peace was the basis for development.

The prime minister pointed out the six mutually reinforcing peace multipliers in the model, which were, eradication of poverty and hunger, reduction of inequality, mitigation of deprivation, inclusion of excluded people, acceleration of human development and elimination of terrorism.

"Prosperity is achievable by individual nations by sincere implementation of what is right, or sometimes under the guidance of the United Nations," Hasina said.