The Closing Ceremony of the “Preparatory Conference of the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial-2023” was held on 26 June 2023 at the Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka.
Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UN in New York, UN Under Secretary General for Peace Operations, UN Under Secretary General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police , United Nations Police Adviser, Director General, Peace and Stabilization Operations of Global Affairs Canada, Director General for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay made their remarks at the Closing Ceremony. The speakers stressed on undertaking concrete and effective commitments and initiatives to take forward the peacekeeping agenda, focusing on creating enabling environment for women in peacekeeping.
The two-day Preparatory Meeting focused on various issues under the theme “Women in Peacekeeping”, covering the areas such as, addressing the challenges that the Member States face to ensure gender equality in peacekeeping Missions, importance of formulating gender-integrated policies, ensuring gender-responsive leadership, recognizing the sacrifices of women peacekeepers, importance of accountability, utilizing the Elsie Initiative Fund etc. The participants also highlighted the significance of fostering strong partnership among all relevant stakeholders to ensure increased and meaningful participation of women in peacekeeping.
This Preparatory Meeting is the first one among the series of four Preparatory Meetings planned under different themes, ahead of the Ministerial Meeting to be held in Ghana in December 2023. Holding this Meeting in Dhaka manifests UN’s recognition and appreciation of Bangladesh’s role as top troop and police contributing country in the UN Peacekeeping Missions, and a global champion of international peace and security.