She said that currently, Bangladesh is the largest contributor of women peacekeepers to UN peacekeeping missions. So far, a total of 704 women peacekeepers from the Bangladesh Armed Forces have participated in UN peacekeeping missions. Presently 373 women members are deployed in various peacekeeping missions.
“On the other hand, a total of 1,624 women police officers from Bangladesh Police have participated in peacekeeping operations and 150 officers are currently working.”
She also said that women in Bangladesh are now serving as government secretaries, judges of the Supreme Court, vice-chancellors of universities and top positions in many organizations.
Sheikh Hasina said she was happy to note that the participants would interact with Rohingyas, citizens of Myanmar forcibly displaced from Rakhine State.
“We have given them shelter on humanitarian grounds. We can understand their plight and miseries as we had to go through similar experiences and shocks during our liberation struggle in 1971. I hope the interactive session will be a great experience for the participants to understand the victims of war and conflict.
The Prime Minister said that as the current Chair of the Women, Peace and Security Chiefs of Defense Network launched by Bangladesh, Canada and the United Kingdom in November 2017, all are committed to advancing the WPS agenda.
“While preparing the National Action Plan 2019-2022 on WPS, we are implementing it. We have decided that the implementation of the National Action Plan will continue till 2025.