Bangladesh

Attended April 2014 meeting on the draft Guidelines in Geneva, no statement. Did not follow SSD consultations.

At the PoC Debate of January 2016 mentioned importance of child protection and how they have a robust framework, as major TCC. Follow-up meeting set up with NY Mission for Feb 8th. Positive meeting, intention to brign the issue to the C-34 (GA peacekeeping committee). Letter sent to NY mission ahead of CAAC open debate 2016.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “We stand in principle behind the call for ending targeted attacks against schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure for children. The growing sensitization about avoiding school premises for stationing armed forces, including peacekeepers, is indeed positive. As a troop- and police-contributing country to United Nations peacekeeping operations, Bangladesh remains committed to abide by those broadly applicable norms and ensure protection of children within the broader mandates for the protection of civilians. In our regional context, we remain available to advance dialogues on these issues through sharing of ideas and good practices.”

February 2017: Bede met with GVA mission. Interested when he made the link to Bangladesh’s role as a peacekeeping contributor. Said there might be interest in attending conference, but anything that requires endorsement can take 1-2 years to secure. Was interested that Qatar and Malaysia had already endorsed.

March 2017: Bede wrote to Ambassador in Paris to encourage attendance at conference.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. Article 36 spoke with the rep from capital (MFA) who said they will make a positive recommendation after the conference to endorse the declaration. They see endorsement as a positive step for Bangladesh and have no apparent concerns. They weren’t too aware of the issue and had no recollection of being invited to the Oslo conference. They see endorsing as important given their role in peacekeeping operations. The decision is taken by the cabinet.

April 2017: Attended post-conference briefing for missions in New York.

April 2017: GCPEA issued letter to FM.

May 2017: Zama met with Faiyaz Murshid Kazi in New York Mission. We met in Feb 16. He remembered, mentioned including the issue in statements, and himself attended the BA debrief. Said his ministry had hosted a meeting in capital with defense present and he knew of no objections. Felt that the gvt sending someone to BA meant there were no concerns. Issue is getting people to prioritize it and actually sign off. He knew the person who went to BA and has not seen his write up. He will contact him and also raise it again with capital. In general a very positive meeting. Challenge is getting capital to feel motivated to act.

April 2018: GCPEA provided information and documentation on the Declaration to the Save the Children Country Director, who was visiting Geneva and who shared the briefing with the Director of Education.

February 2019: GCPEA met with the Deputy Permanent Representative who was familiar with the background. He stated that Bangladesh supports the principles of the initiative, and that protection of education is part of their policy. He highlighted that the top 10 peacekeeping troop-contributors haven’t endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration. Bangladesh would prefer other countries in the top 10 to endorse first, and would be likely to follow. He was interested to know why Japan and the Republic of Korea haven’t endorsed and whether we had engaged with Ethiopia and Rwanda. He also asked how ICRC uses the Guidelines and if we had any data on military use of schools in Myanmar. GCPEA mentioned the presentation delivered by Lt. Cdr. Tasnuva Anan, Bangladesh Navy, during the GCPEA implementation workshop in Addis Ababa in November 2016, and suggested that Bangladesh could share this good practice in Spain. Follow-up: GCPEA followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister, the Myanmar profile in Education under Attack 2018, Lt. Cdr. Anan’s presentation, and the ICRC’s position on the Declaration and Guidelines.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG Ms. Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva:referred to the issue of attacks on/or and military use of schools.

April 2019: GCPEA and Save the Children UN Advocacy Office met with the Counsellor. GCPEA provided a brief overview of the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines and encouraged their participation in the Third International Conference.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

June 2020: Zama and I met yesterday with the Ambassador and the two Counsellors from the Mission of Bangladesh. The Ambassador was familiar with the background (as you might recall, she delivered a statement at the high-level event on May 28, highlighting Bangladesh’s support for the protection of education from attack). She stated that Bangladesh supports the principles of the SSD, and that she made a positive recommendation to her capital. They are considering the endorsement and are consulting all relevant government stakeholders to secure their buy-in. Zama highlighted that 9 September (the International Day) would be an opportune moment to announce endorsement. The Ambassador and the Counsellor underlined that they would aim to endorse in September but they would need a few clarifications in order to do so. They requested information why the top peacekeeping troop-contributors haven’t endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Ghana, China). This is the second time they ask this question and the Ambassador requested information and counter-arguments. I explained that Nepal and Ghana were close to endorsement. The Counsellor asked me whether we had engaged with India. They fear criticism since many schools in Cox’s Bazar are used as shelters for Rohingya refuges and children are denied access to education. As far as I know, their government recently made a decision to expand access to education for Rohingya children living in the settlements in Cox’s Bazar. We spoke about how the use of schools in such circumstances is not covered by the Guidelines, although it is preferable to avoid disruption to education if at all possible. They requested examples of how the Safe Schools Declaration “has been implemented” in humanitarian situations other than armed conflict. We can maybe draw parallels with the current issue of the use of schools for non-education purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the operational guidance note developed by the EiE WG in Nigeria.

August 2022: Apolline and Nevena met with the Ambassador in New-York, H.E. Mr. Muhith, and his Counsellor Ms. Monica Shahanara. The Ambassador had just taken up his position 10 days ago but he seemed well briefed on previous GCPEA engagement and the issue. He mentioned the usual issues: the fact that the other big peacekeeping contributing countries haven’t yet endorsed, refugees in Cox Bazar camps without access to education, and the argument that Bangladesh is non-conflict affected countries and the SSD is a low priority. However, he argued that he personally did not think these issues should be obstacles to endorsement, and he reassured us that he would follow-up with his capital. We explained that 09 September would be a great opportunity to publicly announce endorsement (their PM has been invited to speak at the High-Level event in Paris UNESCO). We also mentioned the Transforming Education Summit (TES) explaining that endorsement could be one of their government’s pledges. We followed up with more information and the full list of GCPEA recommendations for the TES.

November 2022: On 17 November, Nevena and Apolline met with the DPR in Geneva, Ms. Shanchita Haque, and the First Secretary Mr. Abdullah Al Forhad (recently elected at the HRC starting 2023). The DPR was not familiar with the issue so we provided a comprehensive briefing on the SSD, GCPEA, and our previous engagement with their government. We highlighted the peacekeeping component, and that endorsement will be in line with their national legislation, namely The Manoeuvres, Field Firing and Artillery Practice Act of 1938. She agreed this was relevant for Bangladesh, and she was keen to provide her MoFA with all arguments to convince the MoD in capital. She requested that we prepare a short document with these key arguments, and promised to make a positive recommendation to her capital. In the follow-up, we shared with her the document with all arguments.