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Bangladesh deploys female UN peacekeepers

By Salim Mia BBC News, Dhaka

For the first time, Bangladesh is going to send female police officers to a foreign UN peacekeeping mission. Demand for Bangladeshi police officers by the UN for its peacekeeping missions is increasing because they are renowned for their professionalism. Bangladesh police first sent officers to the UN peacekeeping mission in in Namibia in 1989. Presently there are 1,608 police personnel working in Congo, East Timor, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sudan. Many operate in hostile environments - the female officers will be deployed in Haiti. 'Breakthrough' "According to the UN mandate, our activities in quake-ravaged Haiti will be providing humanitarian activities besides community policing," said Rokfar Sultana, who will command the women's contingent. "We will also provide primary education, primary healthcare, protection on violence against women, prevention of HIV, Aids training and so on," she said. Bangladesh currently has 10 police units in different countries. "But this is the first time that a women's unit is being sent to the UN peacekeeping mission. We think that it is a breakthrough for our country," said Bangladesh police chief Nur Mohammad. Besides this female contingent, another male contingent will also be sent in Haiti. Each has 160 police officers. Since 1989, Bangladesh has sent 6,369 officers to the UN peacekeeping mission. "I am thrilled to bits that I am going to Haiti for peacekeeping activities in the UN mission," said Ms Sultana. "This step of the government and Bangladesh police in upholding the women's development is commendable and timely," she said.

Beauty tips for Bangladesh police 

By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Dhaka 

  Bangladesh police authorities want their officers to be presentable

New police recruits in Bangladesh have been given advice on how to smarten up their act.

One of the country's leading beauticians has been giving them advice on what to wear and how to look.
The idea, the deputy head of Bangladesh's top police academy says, is to turn this batch of new recruits into "world class police leaders".
They have received lessons in grooming, personal hygiene, physical fitness, skin-care, diet and dining etiquette.
Kaniz Almas Khan, who runs a chain of smart beauty parlours in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, as well as in Thailand, was invited to show the new recruits how to wear clothes in matching colours.
'Smell is important'
She also gave the 140 men and women a lesson in how to choose a good perfume or aftershave.

I was surprised to be asked, but it's great that people are becoming more conscious of their looks Kaniz Almas Khan

She was quoted by the French news agency AFP as saying that the male officers were just as keen as the female officers, if not more, on looking good.
"I was surprised to be asked, but it's great that people are becoming more conscious of their looks," she said.
Mazharal Haque, vice principal of Sharda Police Academy in Rajshahi, said: "We invited a top beautician to give lessons on personal grooming to the newly recruited police officers so they could become world-class police leaders."
The idea was to make them fit to serve in United Nations peacekeeping missions anywhere on the planet.
The beautician had "taught them what type of perfume they will use because smell is important", the vice principal added.
"It is important for our officers to be presentable whether in uniform or civilian dress."

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