IOM Dhaka has hosted a one-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 airforce, 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, the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (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

IOM Dhaka

Tel. +880.1.713.033.261

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

or

Tanya Huq Shahriar

Tel. +880.1.713.01.1705

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