Charter Aims to Reshape Politics, Institutions, and Recognize 2024 Uprising
Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s Interim Government and Head of the National Consensus Commission, addresses the media after signing the July National Charter at the South Plaza of the National Parliament in Dhaka on October 17, 2025.—AFP
Bangladesh’s landmark “July Charter” for state reform, drafted after last year’s deadly student-led uprising, was endorsed by most political parties on Friday. However, the signing event faced street violence and was boycotted by a major group.
The charter aims to reshape Bangladesh’s political system and institutions while giving constitutional recognition to the 2024 uprising that forced long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, heading Bangladesh’s interim government, said the charter’s signing is a crucial step toward restoring political stability and preparing for national elections set for February 2026.
“It’s the birth of a new Bangladesh,” Yunus told attendees at the ceremony.
Boycotts and Street Clashes The National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by leaders of last year’s movement along with four leftist parties, did not participate. The NCP criticized the charter for lacking a legal framework or binding guarantees to implement its commitments.
“The signing of the July Charter by a few political parties does not reflect national unity,” said NCP convener Nahid Islam.
Earlier in the day, clashes broke out outside the venue as families of those killed and injured during the 2024 uprising staged protests. Police used batons, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse demonstrators, leaving several people injured, witnesses reported.
The National Consensus Commission introduced a last-minute amendment to the charter, calling it an “urgent revision” responding to the demands of 2024 uprising participants.
The updated clause ensures justice for victims of disappearances, killings, and torture under Hasina’s Awami League government, as well as those harmed during the July-August 2024 uprising.
Political leaders who signed the charter included members of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, and several centrist and regional groups supporting the reform initiative.
UN Warns Poorest Countries Face Unequal Burden from Climate Shocks Lames and smoke rise from trees as a wildfire burns at Dadia National Park in Evros, Greece, September 1, 2023. — Reuters
The United Nations has warned that nearly 80% of the world’s poorest people—around 900 million—are directly exposed to climate risks worsened by global warming. The UN called this a “double and profoundly unequal burden.”
“No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and severe effects of climate change such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and air pollution, but the poorest face the harshest impacts,” said Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in a statement to AFP.
Xu added that the COP30 climate summit in Brazil this November is “the moment for world leaders to view climate action as action against poverty.”
An annual study by the UNDP, in partnership with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, found that 1.1 billion people—or about 18% of 6.3 billion people in 109 countries studied—live in “acute multidimensional poverty.” This measure considers factors such as infant mortality, housing, sanitation, electricity, and education. Half of those affected are children.
Residents move through a flooded area near the Ravi river after India opened major dams in Kashmir following heavy rains, in Lahore, Pakistan, August 28, 2025. — Reuters
The report highlights the story of Ricardo, a member of the Guarani Indigenous community near Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Ricardo earns a small income as a day laborer and lives with 18 family members in a single small house. The home has only one bathroom, a wood-and-coal kitchen, and none of the children attend school.
“Their lives reflect the multidimensional realities of poverty,” the report said.
Prioritising People and the Planet
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions most affected by extreme poverty and are highly vulnerable to climate change. The UN report links poverty with four major environmental risks: extreme heat, drought, floods, and air pollution.
“Impoverished households are especially at risk from climate shocks because many depend on vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and informal labor,” the study said.
A corn field in Les-Rues-des-Vignes, near Cambrai, France, June 26, 2023, faces drought risks. — Reuters
Repeated or overlapping hazards worsen existing deprivations. Nearly 887 million poor people—about 79% of the total—are exposed to at least one climate threat: 608 million to extreme heat, 577 million to pollution, 465 million to floods, and 207 million to drought.
About 651 million face at least two risks, 309 million face three or four risks, and 11 million poor people have already experienced all four hazards in a single year.
“Concurrent poverty and climate hazards are a global problem,” the report said. Rising extreme weather threatens development gains.
In South Asia, despite progress in poverty reduction, 99.1% of the poor population is exposed to at least one climate hazard. The report urges the region to “chart a new path that balances poverty reduction with innovative climate action.”
As the Earth’s surface continues to warm, experts warn that the poorest countries will be hardest hit by rising temperatures.
“Responding to overlapping risks requires prioritising both people and the planet, and moving from recognition to rapid action,” the report said.
