IOM Dhaka has hosted a 1-day seminar on internally displaced persons, refugees and human trafficking for Bangladeshi trainee UN peacekeepers.

The training, which was attended by 12 officers from the Bangladesh army, navy and air force, was part of a UN Military Observer Course run by the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operations Training (BIPSOT).

The programme was facilitated by experts from IOM, UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regional office in New Delhi and addressed various aspects of displacement and trafficking, with special emphasis on gender issues in peacekeeping and post conflict situations.

Cooperation between BIPSOT and IOM to train UN peacekeepers began in 2002, when the two agencies launched the first of a series of joint trainings designed to prepare Bangladeshi officers for challenging and often dangerous UN peacekeeping missions abroad.

“This seminar is important because it prepares trainee UN peacekeepers for some of the major challenges associated with displacement, refugees and trafficking that they may encounter in the field,” said IOM Regional Representative for South Asia Rabab Fatima.

Bangladesh has a distinguished record as one of the leading contributors to UN peacekeeping worldwide. Some 8,000 members of the Bangladeshi armed services are currently serving in ten UN peacekeeping missions around the world, with the largest contingent deployed in Côte d’Ivoire.

For more information please contact Asif Munier at IOM Dhaka. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tel. +880.1.713.033.261 or Tanya Huq Shahriar. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tel. +880.1.713.01.1705.