Dr Matiur Rahman :
Social justice refers to an environment in which all people, regardless of race, gender, religion or caste, are guaranteed equal rights to live and work. Just as social justice ensures progress, prosperity, equitable distribution of wealth and equal opportunities; it also strictly eliminates inequalities caused by age-caste-religion-gender or physical differences.
Recognizing the importance of social justice for the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous society, the United Nations General Assembly on 26 November 2007 declared 20 February World Social Justice Day. The day is aimed at establishing world peace, harmony, prosperity and social justice by tackling issues such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, gender equality, immigration, human rights violations and crime.
“Achieving Social Justice through Formal Employment” is the theme of this year UN-declared World Day of Social Justice. The day has been celebrated worldwide by the United Nations since 2009. Each year on February 20, the day is commemorated.
The UN mentioned that more than 60 per cent of the world’s employed population which is 2 billion women, men and youth, earn their livelihoods in the informal economy. The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the vulnerability of workers in the informal economy. Informal workers, who often lack any form of social protection or employment-related benefits, are twice as likely to be poor compared to formal workers. Most people enter the informal economy not by choice, but due to a lack of opportunities in the formal economy.
In Bangladesh, 87 per cent of the labour force is employed in the informal economy according to the 2010 Labour Force Survey. Those working in the informal economy include wage labourers, self-employed persons, unpaid family labour, piece-rate workers, and other hired labour.
In modern state or society, ‘Social Justice’ is considered as one of the basic conditions for the development, prosperity and establishment of peace in a country. The more developed and prosperous a state or society is the more social justice is practised in those states or societies.
The question is how much social justice has been established in Bangladesh. Considering the rate of poverty, income inequality, rising unemployment, violence against women and lack of rule of law, lack of human rights social justice in Bangladesh is far distant than desirable.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, several organizations in the country conducted surveys on poverty and unemployment. Those studies show that the overall poverty rate in the country has increased to 42 per cent. The number of poor people has increased due to declining incomes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The total number of poor in the country stands at 32.4 million. This number of the poor has increased during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This number may be higher than calculated by a different organization. According to the ‘Global Hunger Index (GHI) -2021’ report, the number of hungry people in the world has increased by 118 million in 2020 as compared to 2019; the growth rate is about 18 per cent. Although no official data has been released in Bangladesh, the research results of several private research institutions show that there has been a rise in poverty in the country due to the Corona situation. This rate stands at 35 to 42 per cent.
As poverty is the root cause of all other evil deeds in society. Bangladesh is far away from a just society. Every day we are witnessing violence against women, lack of rule of law, violation of human rights, decimation and inequality and so on. Injustice, irregularities and corruption are now rampant in this society. Therefore social justice is an urgent need to restore peace and harmony in the Bangladesh Society. We hope to live in a just society. To establish a just society, it is necessary to establish social justice. Where there is no justice, it is ridiculous to imagine a just society. Establishing justice at present is not a matter of words.
Even then the development of a just society, liberal democracy is the expectation of all of us. But it will not come suddenly. We all have a long way to go in this normal development and we have to keep trying from our position to speed up the process. All citizens of the society must be united. However, there may be differences of opinion. That is why no one can be hurt. At present we cannot tolerate dissenting people. They are being treated unfairly. Justice will be established only if we can get out of such a mentality.
We have to keep one thing in mind, it is important to have justice and to establish a just society. And to be fair, we must fight against injustice. If a society is free from injustice, corruption, irregularities and other social problems it will be easy to establish a just society. Justice will also be established in all sectors. Although these are not easy things, there is nothing that people cannot do. Those who love this country will be able to transform this society into a just society. Thus establishing a just society is an urgent need for Bangladesh.
(The writer is a researcher and
development worker).
