In the past 12 months, many people have died and been injured in politically related conflict in Bangladesh, with huge impacts on business and livelihoods. In this context, leading civil society experts debated their role in addressing conflict and violence across the country in an event in Dhaka on February 18.
The event was hosted by international NGO Saferworld, who aim to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives by working with local people affected by conflict. This event was also organised in partnership with AKK (Faridpur), BARCIK (Satkhira) and ChangeMaker (Jessore).
Chris Underwood, head of Saferworld’s Asia Programme, and Maj Gen Syed Muhammad Ibrahim (Rtd), Bir Protik had attended the event as guests, and Ambassador Humayun Kabir was present as key guest speaker in the event. Around 50 participants including district level project participants, elected representatives, donors, security providers, national and international organisations, academics, media, think tanks, business communities and civil society representatives attended the meeting.
The event kicked off with a presentation from Bibhash Chakraborty, programme manager at Saferworld Bangladesh, on their Capacities for Peace (C4P) initiative, which builds the capacities of local level actors/ civil society members to undertake or engage in early warning and early action in conflict affected contexts. This is an EU intervention to develop conflict sensitive groups to protect and reduce conflict in the area and contribute to creating links with development interventions.
“What we are seeing in Bangladesh at the moment is that current efforts to address violence have not had an impact,” said Chakraborty. “Three months of turmoil in 2015 cost the nation USD$2.2billion. This event is crucial in bringing civil society together and raising awareness on why conflict analysis is going to be key if we are to move forward.”
The presentation was followed by an engaged discussion, where the participants shared their views on conflict resolution in Bangladesh and the role of civil society in countering violence. After the discussion, the guests were invited to give their comments.
According to Chris Underwood, “Our goal is not the end of conflict, but the end of violence in society.” He recommended taking a holistic approach where women, business leaders and youth can act as peacemakers, and urged relevant stakeholders to forge partnerships with progressive voices across the country. He also added - “Moving forward, we will be examining conflict in three local contexts and comparing that to the national context, strengthening civil society and developing a coordination mechanism to conflict prevention.”
Maj Gen Syed Muhammad Ibrahim (Rtd), Bir Protik said that “the involvement of locally influential people will bring peace.” He also emphasised that the centralisation of government and management of administration was hindering conflict resolution.
The event ended with a speech from Ambassador M Humayun Kabir (Rtd), who said, “if violent incidents or conflict situations prevail in a society for a long time, any sudden spark can lead to disruption or disaster.” He argued that it is important to use positive language and engage with government apparatus to effectively contribute to conflict resolution, and also stressed on involving local actors so that they are able to take ownership and build a sustainable social movement to resolve conflict and counter violence.
