Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has reiterated the country’s commitment and readiness to contribute to the work of the UN Police meaningfully.
He was speaking at a high-level session of the fourth UN Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS 2024) at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
The home minister was the first speaker at the main session in the morning entitled “Novel Approaches to Peace Operations and Potential Domains of Conflict.”
He highlighted the need for the deployment of context-oriented and targeted specialized policing skills in peacekeeping missions considering evolving contexts and changing scenarios.
Asaduzzaman also emphasised extending support to host states’ rule of law and security institutions and capacities from the very beginning of peacekeeping missions. He called for prioritizing transition and exit strategies.
The minister expressed Bangladesh’s readiness to contribute with more women peacekeepers to promote gender-responsive policing in the host state.
Referring to Bangladesh’s contribution to strengthening the UN’s efforts in countering misinformation and disinformation against peacekeepers, he underscores the importance of utilizing artificial intelligence in the work of UN peacekeeping as well as the need for responsible use of such technologies.
On the sidelines of UNCOPS, the home minister held three different bilateral meetings with the Gambia’s Interior Minister Abdoulie Sanyang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare.
In the meetings with the two under-secretary-generals, Asaduzzaman informed them of Bangladesh’s preparedness to cope with the changing realities on the ground and new emerging threats facing peace operations.
They also discussed increasing Bangladesh’s participation in UN peacekeeping.
Both the under-secretary-generals commended Bangladesh’s contribution to UN peacekeeping, requesting more support and discussed the potential areas to further Bangladesh-UN partnerships.
The Gambian interior minister thanked Asaduzzaman Khan for Bangladesh’s support of Gambia’s participation in UN peacekeeping.
They also discussed areas of further cooperation on the Rohingya issue and UN peacekeeping.
The two-day summit took place at UN headquarters on June 26-27, with Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan leading the Bangladesh delegation.
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Muhammad A Muhith, Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police Kamrul Ahsan, and senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bangladesh Police attended the summit as members of the Bangladesh delegation.
