Statement by Bangladesh

Bangladesh welcomes the adoption of the gender strategy by the Peacebuilding Commission, and has been particularly supportive of further strengthening women’s participation and leadership in this year’s resolutions on peacebuilding architecture and mediation. We are relieved to learn about the mediated release and rescue of a number of women and girls held hostage by certain international and regional terrorist groups. We urge the Council to continue efforts to secure the freedom of the remaining women and girls, as their continued captivity and degrading treatment are an affront to us all.

We acknowledge the recent trend of increased women’s representation in various peace negotiations, and in increasing gender-specific provisions in peace agreements. In our national context, in the aftermath of a peace accord signed with a local insurgent group in 1997, we saw how women played a critical role in advancing the accord’s implementation, preventing relapse into conflict, and building awareness and resilience against gender-based violence.

Our Government has made it a priority to further mainstream women’s participation in our multidimensional efforts to combat terrorism and prevent violent extremism. Our

Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has made an appeal to mothers to work as sentinels within their families and has urged female teachers, elected representatives and women working at the grass-roots level to actively contribute towards a whole-of-society response against violent extremism and radicalization. We remain determined to forge ahead with our women’s development and empowerment efforts to defeat the violent extremists and terrorists in one of their fundamental pursuits.