Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, has been unanimously elected as the Chair of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for 2022.
The election of the Chair and Vice-Chairs of PBC was held at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Ambassador Fatima is the first woman to be elected as PBC Chair, the foreign ministry said.
The Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is an intergovernmental advisory body to the UN General Assembly and Security Council that supports peacebuilding efforts in the conflict affected countries upon their request, with a view to preventing relapse of conflict and ensuring inclusive and sustainable development.
Established in 2005, the PBC is composed of 31 members elected from the General Assembly, Security Council and ECOSOC. The top financial contributors and the top peacekeepers contributing countries to the UN are also members of the Commission.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has been making significant contributions to international peace and security, particularly by contributing to UN peace operations and also by championing women peace and security agenda globally,” the foreign ministry said.
Bangladesh’s chairperson-ship of PBC is a testament of the international community's trust and confidence in Bangladesh as an important contributor to international peace in some of the most difficult corners of the world.
Ambassador Fatima thanked the member states for reposing their trust and confidence in Bangladesh to steer the PBC during this challenging time, when COVID 19 pandemic continues to have grave impacts on peacebuilding and development activities.
“We will put particular focus on promoting global solidarity to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on development and peacebuilding,” said Ambassador Fatima.
Recalling the crucial role of peacekeepers in assisting the host countries to develop critical peacebuilding capacities, and enabling other peacebuilding actors to help address the root causes of conflict, she stressed on reinforcing the inter-linkages between peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
“As the leading troops and police contributing country to the UN peace operations, Bangladesh greatly values the importance of leveraging the positive footprints of peacekeepers in the host countries”, she added.
The Bangladesh Ambassador stressed on the critical need for ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding and in this regard expressed commitment to work with the PBC members and other stakeholders.
Ambassador Fatima also highlighted the importance of fostering partnership with regional and sub regional organizations and the international / regional financial institutions to support nationally-led peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts.
“There is much to be achieved from South-South and Triangular cooperation, especially to mobilize critical resources and create platforms for sharing ideas, and good practices,” said Ambassador Fatima.
Ambassador Fatima expressed her interest to prioritize the Women Peace and Security (WPS) and the Youth Peace and Security (YPS) agenda to ensure full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in peacebuilding.
She emphasised on further strengthening the PBC’s advisory and bridging role with the General Assembly, Security Council, and the ECOSOC, and promoting UN's system-wide coherence and synergy.
“We will continue to push for more coherent and effective delivery of peacebuilding goals by UN country teams, including the agencies, funds and programmes in support of national peacebuilding priorities,” she added.
Bangladesh has been a member of PBC since its inception. Earlier, Bangladesh served the Commission as chair in 2012.
