Dhaka yet to sign UN convention

"The Law Minister and the Foreign Minister will have to reply to the nation why Bangladesh did not sign the convention," Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, a trustee of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), told BDNEWS.

He said Law Minister Moudud Ahmed at a seminar marking the day last year said he will look into why Bangladesh did not sign the convention and take steps to sign the UN convention.

"Since then we don't know what the government did in this regard. This kind of thing happens when there is dishonesty on the part of the government," he added.

The TIB trustee said they repeatedly wrote to the government, but "the government did not respond."

"We did not hear anything that parliamentary committee took any initiative in this regard," said Prof Muzaffer.

Marking the International Anti-Corruption Day, the TIB will once again urge the government to ratify the United Nations convention.

The day is observed on December 9 to mark the signing conference for the "UN Convention against Corruption" held in Mérida, Mexico in 2003.

On the occasion of the day, TIB has organised a seminar on "corruption and human insecurity in Bangladesh" at 10:00am at Jatiya Press Club today.

The seminar will be followed by distribution of prizes among the winners of essay and debate competitions on the day while cultural function will be held at the same venue at 2:15pm.

TIB officials said similar programmes will also be held in 18 places, including Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Rangpur.

It has also released some TV advertisements urging people to resist corruption.

On the occasion, the Transparency International will launch "Global Corruption Barometer 2005" and TV advertisement "Think Again!" at a press conference in Paris, France.

The Global Corruption Barometer 2005, based on a Gallup poll conducted for the TI will reveal widespread and ingrained pessimism about corruption around the globe.