AN IRISH WOMAN leading 3,000 UN-backed humanitarian workers in Bangladesh has spoken of the emotional moment she watched the country free itself in a revolution to depose its dictator.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country dramatically by helicopter last weekend after weeks of protests and violence that left hundreds of people dead.
The former leader, who had led the country since 2009, was ousted by student protesters over a controversial government jobs quota that led to large-scale protests and violent unrest in the streets since early July.
At least 113 people were killed yesterday in what was the deadliest day of violence since the protests began last month, bringing the total number of fatalities to at least 413.
The uprising started in universities among students and soon spread out across the country.
Gwyn Lewis, from Dublin, has a lifetime working in conflict zones and crisis spots across the globe, including the Balkans and in Gaza where she worked as director of UNRWA.
She is now the UN Resident Coordinator which is the highest ranking representative of the UN Development System at a country level.
The Resident Coordinator is the designated representative of the UN Secretary-General.
Lewis monitors and assists the team giving aid to a huge population of 170 million people across Bangladesh.
She arrived in the country two years ago after spending time in UN headquarters and on international postings.
The humanitarian explained that she immediately realised when she arrived in the country that there was a gathering discontent among the population.
“When I arrived here it wasn’t very long before I knew that something was going to happen in this country because of the level of control and the lack of freedom of expression, the inability of people to come out and protest, the inability of political parties to speak openly,” she said.
Lewis said shortly after her arrival she had met opposition leaders and it raised the hackles of the government-aligned press.
“It was just huge pressure and control by the state apparatus. And so you could, you could feel it in Bangladesh,” she added.
Lewis noticed that tensions heightened again last December as the repression and control became even stronger as elections approached. Once the vote was cast, she said, it was clear that the vote was not fair and this made the revolution inevitable.
She said the control by the government had two purposes – one to limit the potential for chaos and violence but also to ensure that the vote went the way of Hasina’s ruling party.
The humanitarian said the opposition refused to participate on the grounds that they believed the ballot would be fixed.
Ultimately Hasina was accused of rigging the elections in January this year, which saw her win her fourth straight term after the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the election, alleging it was a sham.
Beyond the political crisis Lewis said that the country suffered heavily in the food crisis due to the Ukraine war, when grain supplies and fertiliser shot up in price or became unavailable.
Bangladesh is also suffering hugely from climate change induced crises and weather events, she said.
Lewis was on leave with her daughter when the fighting broke out and found her returning rapidly to prepare for the worst.
She said that she is “very proud” that none of the 3,000 people she has responsibility for has been injured.
Lewis explains that in her work she has got to know people on both sides including government ministers and has watched as once disappeared people are released from custody.
She described the current atmosphere in the country, as nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus comes to power, as “very emotional”.
While expectation is rising that Bangladesh’s problems are behind it, Lewis believes that there could still be dangerous times ahead. She said that the conditions are still “fragile” but that there is general support for the interim government led by Yunus.
The original protest movement, the students, are represented in the new ruling body.
Lewis said that there is a lot of acknowledgment that there is a need for a truth and reconciliation mechanism, an independent investigation into what happened and for free and fair elections.
She said there is also a lot of vandalism still ongoing in the capital of Dhaka where she is based and that the police, who were central to the government’s crackdown, have not returned to maintain order as the new regime takes its place.
She believes that central to the new more peaceful atmosphere was Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman but that soldiers are not able to do the work of police.
For Lewis said said her time in Palestine has caused her to be “broken hearted” about events in Gaza and that the work of the humanitarian is a difficult but rewarding life.
“Palestine takes a toll. My daughter was born there, and I was, I was director for the West Bank for UNRWA. I have friends there. Sometimes I think my my heart is left behind.
“Bangladesh it has been a very tough couple of years, but I think that’s also why this last week has been so extraordinary. It’s just seeing something positive.
“With all the challenges and the violence, and I’m not saying young people dying on the streets is a good thing. The sense of people taking back control of their lives is quite something, particularly in today’s world. We just don’t see it,” she said.
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