IOM Dhaka has hosted a one-day seminar on internally displaced
persons, irregular migration, refugees and humanitarian law for
Bangladeshi trainee UN peacekeepers.

The training, which was attended by 16 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). They were also joined by one trainee
officer each from the Indian Army and the Turkish Navy.

The programme was facilitated by experts from IOM, UNHCR and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and addressed
various aspects of internally displaced persons, irregular
migration, international humanitarian law, and the role of IOM,
UNHCR and ICRC in relation to UN peacekeeping in conflict areas or
areas of natural disaster.

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 is an important initiative that contributes to preparing
UN peacekeepers for their work in the field in protecting people in
conflict and disaster-affected areas. IOM, UNHCR and ICRC remain
committed to work with BIPSOT in building the capacity of UN
peacekeepers," said IOM Regional Representative for South Asia
Rabab Fatima.

Bangladesh has a distinguished record as one of the leading
contributors to UN peacekeeping worldwide. Currently 10,885
Bangladesh peacekeepers drawn from the country's different armed
forces are engaged in 12 UN peacekeeping missions around the
world.

For more information, please contact:

Asif Munier

IOM Dhaka

E-mail: "mailto:amunier@iom.int">amunier@iom.int

or

Farhana Chowdhury

Tel. +880.2.9889765

E-mail: "mailto:fchowdhury@iom.int">fchowdhury@iom.int