Bangladesh Police in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Capacity Building: Striving for Perfection in an Imperfect World!

Since 1988, Bangladesh has been one of the highest police contributing countries (PCCs) to United Nations Peacekeeping operations. Over the years, Bangladesh Police has not only carved out space for itself as a top PCC, but also earned a name for itself as a dependable force which delivered the tasks assigned to it. However, in the last few years, Bangladesh Police has seen a fall in deployment to various missions due to an increasing number of participation of other new contributors across the world. Moreover, there are significant transformations in the nature of conflict and mandates of peacekeeping operations which would require Bangladesh Police to be prepared itself for future participation in such missions. Against such a backdrop, this article examines how Bangladeshi police peacekeepers evaluate their participation in peace missions and their capacity in addressing the challenges of the contemporary and future peace missions. It also investigates issues of capacity building, skill enhancement, and increasing competency of Bangladesh police peacekeepers as perceived by themselves. This article argues Bangladesh needs to comprehend the changing scenario and enhance the capacity of police peacekeepers by undertaking appropriate measures including tapping into the experience of its returning police personnel. Otherwise, the sustainability of Bangladesh's participation in UN police peacekeeping deployments may face severe stress and become problematic.