Civil society struggling due to shrinking space
The decline of civil society-government relationship parallels the deterioration of domestic polity in the country.
Despite the significant role it played in the lead up to and during the Liberation War, the country's civil society is currently struggling due to shrinking intellectual space and weakening democratic environment.
As a result, many are adapting to the situation by scaling down their criticism or activities, or adjusting their positions on issues in line with government policies and activities.
Speakers said this at a session at the virtual international conference to reflect on Bangladesh's 50 years. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), in collaboration with South Asia Program of Cornell University, organised the four-day event, which concludes today.
Sticky social norms and gatekeepers still restrict women's access to resources, spaces within formal institutions and their voice.
While presenting a paper, CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said the civil society played an important role during the pre-liberation period, helped uphold the spirit of liberation and ensured trial of the collaborators afterwards, as well as restoring and protecting democratic values and promoting the peoples' interests.
Post 1971, the decade between 1990-2000 was one of the most productive periods of competitive collaboration between civil and political elites, he said.
Unfortunately, this collaboration declined later and only improved to an extent after the 2008 national election.
He said till the national elections of 2014, there was a degree of openness on the part of ruling elites to listen to the opinions and suggestions of the civil society.
"After the 2018 elections, this vibrancy gradually gave way to a conflictual situation. The decline of civil society-government relationship parallels the deterioration of domestic polity in the country," said Debapriya.
He cited the Freedom House Index and CSO Sustainability Index, in which Bangladesh's score has been sliding since 2013.
In the former index, political rights deteriorated by 42 percent, while the civil liberty score fell by 27 percent.
He also said arbitrary use of the draconian Digital Security Act is affecting civil society and media in various ways.
Speaking at the event, Selim Jahan, former director of Human Development Report Office, UNDP, said Bangladesh has an impressive journey in terms of human development, in metrics such as size of the economy, per capita income, life expectancy and more.
"The achievements are impressive, but they are not evenly distributed across all socioeconomic groups, gender and regions of the country," he said. "Another deepening challenge is in the area of rule of law, accountability and transparency of public services."
Meanwhile, presenting another paper, Sohela Nazneen, research fellow at Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, said Bangladesh has made rapid but uneven progress in gender equality.
She said gender inequalities in some areas remain persistent -- apparent in the high levels of malnutrition among women and girls, child marriage, and violence against women.
"Sticky social norms and gatekeepers still restrict women's access to resources, spaces within formal institutions and their voice," she said.
Among others, Sabina Alkire, director of Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, University of Oxford; Elora Shehabuddin, professor of Transnational Asian Studies, Rice University; and David Lewis, professor at London School of Economics and Political Science, also spoke at the programme.
The session was chaired by Bina Agarwal, professor of development economics and environment at Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.
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