DHAKA, Sept 11, 2020
– President of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Tijjani Muhammad-Bande convened the General Assembly’s annual High-Level Forum on Bangladesh’s flagship resolution on ‘Culture of Peace’.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday addressed the virtual event titled “The Culture of Peace: Change our world for the better in the age of COVID-19”, a press release of Bangladesh permanent mission in the UN said today.
In her statement, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima recalled Bangladesh’s historic leadership role in mooting the notion and steering the General Assembly resolution on ‘Culture of Peace’.
She quoted from the maiden speech of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at United Nations in 1974 – “Peace is an imperative for the survival of mankind. It represents the deepest aspirations of men and women throughout the world”.
That is also what shaped Bangladesh’s enduring commitment to the cause of global peace and inspired the nation to propagate a culture of peace, she added.
Fatima also highlighted the continued relevance of culture of peace in addressing global challenges, particularly during the pandemic.
She pointed out that many of the pandemic response initiatives of the UN resonate the call under the culture of peace.
She made specific recommendations for internalizing a culture of peace to complement international community’s efforts to forge global solidarity in overcoming the pandemic.
Later in the day, Ambassador Fatima participated as a panelist in a side event titled “Education, Covid-19 and the Culture of Peace” organized by the renowned US Think Tank the International Peace Institute (IPI).
Fatima alerted not to allow the pandemic to become a generational crisis and urged to leverage culture of peace to address this largest disruption of education in history.
She also shared Bangladesh’s efforts in continuing education and learning during the pandemic.