Dr. Yunus

File photo/Collected

BNCU wants legal action against Dr. Yunus

The commission commented, "Since the matter is fraudulent and planned falsehood, an explanation will be sought as to why legal action should not be taken against them (Dr. Yunus and Yunus Centre)."

This was informed in a statement titled 'Giving Tree of Peace to Dr. Muhammad Yunus: Statement of Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO' sent to the media. The statement was signed by the commission's Deputy Secretary General Zubaida Mannan.

According to the statement, recently in some daily newspapers of Dhaka and on the official web page of Yunus Centre, the attention of the Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO (BNCU) under the Ministry of Education has been drawn to the news of Dr. Muhammad Yunus being awarded the 'Tree of Peace' award by UNESCO. Quoting the press release sent by the Yunus Centre, it is mentioned in the newspaper that the award was given to Dr. Yunus at the 11th Global Baku Forum held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on March 16. But the UNESCO Dhaka office said that the UNESCO headquarters in Paris is not aware of this at all.

It also said, "There was no official representation of UNESCO at the 11th Baku Forum where the news of this award was broadcast. Moreover, the honor claimed by the Yunus Centre is not an award or honor of UNESCO. A sculptural memorial/tribute called 'Tree of Peace' was presented to Dr. Yunus by Israeli sculptor Miss Hedva Ser. Miz Hedva himself confirmed that UNESCO had no involvement in giving the 'Tree of Peace' to Dr. Yunus."

It was presented to Dr. Yunus by Israeli sculptor Miss Hedva Ser on the invitation of Nizami Ghaznavi International Center. Miss Hedva Ser is UNESCO's Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy. But is not an institutional representative of UNESCO and does not have jurisdiction to award any award/honor of UNESCO.