Skip to main content

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk 
A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.
Called “Protect Yunus”, the campaign has been initiated by 40 global leaders, including former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former Mexican president Vicente Fox, musician Peter Gabriel, former NASA astronaut Ron Garan, former CEO, Rockefeller Foundation and International Herald Tribune Peter C Goldmark Jr, former US vice president Al Gore, Rotary International CEO John Hewko, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Kerry Kennedy, 8th secretary general of the UN Ban Ki-moon, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Asking people to write to elected representatives at the federal level (such as Congressperson and Senators if one lives in the US) and urging them to take action in support of Prof Yunus and human rights in Bangladesh, the campaign seeks individuals to write a letter to the editor of local newspapers support him on social media.
Initiating the campaign, the 40 top global leaders from the fields of politics, diplomacy, business, the arts, and academia in their open letter to the Bangladesh Prime Minister, published as a full-page ad in the Washington Post, insist that “positive steps” be taken to support and recognize the great contributions Prof Yunus.
The letter comes amidst running campaign against Prof Yunus supported by the Bangladesh establishment to allegedly denigrate his contributions.

Text:

We write to you as friends of Bangladesh who admire the courage and ingenuity of the people of your country. We are public servants and businesspeople, civil society leaders and philanthropists. We are among the tens of millions of global citizens who have been inspired by the innovations that have been developed in Bangladesh and adopted around the world. It is out of this deep respect for your country that we write to urge you to take positive steps to support and recognize the great contributions one of your most notable citizens, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
We have deep concerns for Professor Yunus’ well-being and his ability to contribute to humanitarian advancement in Bangladesh and around the world. As we are sure you are aware, Muhammad Yunus’ contributions to Bangladesh-especially to the very poor and the most vulnerable-as well as to the world, are recognized and honored around the globe. For example:
  • Professor Yunus is one of seven people in history to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. Presidential medal of Freedom, and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, a group that includes Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Elie Wiesel.
  • He founded Grameen Bank in 1976 and grew it to a world-renowned poverty-fighting institution of 9 million borrowers, 97 percent of them women, that has lifted millions out of poverty and been a model for other microcredit programs around the world.
  • In the mid-1980s Grameen Bank began offering housing loans of $200-$500 that have led to the construction of sturdy rural homes for more than 750,000 families.
  • Grameen Shakti, which Professor Yunus founded and chairs, has installed more than 1.8 million solar home systems and trained thousands of rural women to install and repair these systems.
  • The farsighted investment of Grameen Telecom, a nonprofit organization that he founded, in GrameenPhone, has allowed for the proliferation of social innovation throughout Bangladesh such as the establishment of Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing, the country’s largest private nursing college, four eye care hospitals that cater to the country’s poor, 150 primary health care clinics, and more.
  • He established Grameen America in 2008 to provide microcredit to low-income people in the United States, mostly in amounts under $2,500. It is about to cross the milestone of $3 billion lent, and it has a 99% repayment rate.
Muhammad Yunus has not benefited financially from his involvement in Grameen Telecom or GrameenPhone. Rather, he has devoted himself to the poverty-fighting missions of the many organizations he has established and lives modestly in Dhaka. It is therefore painful to see Prof. Yunus, a man of impeccable integrity, and his life’s work unfairly attacked and repeatedly harassed and investigated by your government.
We believe one of the most important roles of government is to create an environment where traditional and social entrepreneurs can flourish.
We hope that Bangladesh will return to its role as a model for other developing nations of how a vibrant civil society can be nurtured to ensure sustainable progress. A good first step would be to recognize Professor Yunus’ achievements and allow him to focus his energy on doing more good for your country and for the world, rather than on defending himself.
We, and tens of millions of people around the world, hope that you will embrace this vision.
---
Click here for list of global signatories

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan   M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
Post a Comment
»

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah  A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.
Post a Comment
»

School closures across states raise concerns amid Govt of India claims of improved access

By A Representative   A recent report has raised concerns over the closure and merger of government schools in several Indian states, particularly in Bihar, where a significant number of institutions have reportedly been shut down or earmarked for closure.
Post a Comment
»

Health activist group raises concerns over HPV vaccination drive, seeks temporary halt

By A Representative   Swasthya Adhikar Manch, a public health advocacy group, has urged the Union government to ensure greater accountability and transparency in the ongoing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, and called for its temporary suspension pending a comprehensive review. In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the group flagged what it described as unresolved concerns surrounding the nationwide rollout of the HPV vaccine, which began on February 28, 2026. The campaign targets 14-year-old girls and involves administering Gardasil, a quadrivalent vaccine intended to protect against certain strains of HPV linked to cervical cancer.
Post a Comment
»