Bangladesh warned that the global system for managing conflicts is breaking down as wars and humanitarian crises escalate across multiple regions.
Speaking at the Bay of Bengal Initiative Conversation in Dhaka, Touhid Hossain, Adviser for Foreign Affairs, said international institutions have repeatedly failed to prevent or contain violence in places such as Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar. He said Bangladesh’s own experience hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees underscores the cost of international inaction.
“From Ukraine to Gaza, from Sudan to Myanmar, the global system of crisis management has been tested and often found wanting,” Hossain said. “We must build efficacious multilateral and regional institutions that deliver, not just talk.”
Hossain served as deputy high commissioner in Kolkata from 2001 to 2005 and as foreign secretary of Bangladesh from 2006 to 2009. He later served as high commissioner to South Africa beginning in 2012.