BIPSS-ICRC Training workshop on
"International Humanitarian Law"
Concluded With Success

Attorney General of Bangladesh
Barrister Fida M. Kamal is distributing certificates among the participants
of the workshop

The BIPSS-ICRC workshop involved people from different streams into the world of humanitarian law. Around forty delegates from Government and Military organizations, universities and NGOs participated in the workshop.

The workshop was divided into eight sessions covering the whole gamut of International Humanitarian Law where leading professors of universities and experts from home and abroad delivered lectures and moderated open discussions.

Attorney General of Bangladesh Barrister Fida M. Kamal attended the Concluding session of the workshop as Chief Guest, he delivered a speech thanking BIPSS and ICRC. Barrister Kamal distributed certificates among the participants.

To get a specific presentation, click on a specific link
1. Introduction to International Humanitarian Law
2. Relationship between IHL and Human Rights
3. Implementation of IHL and the role of ICRC

Swedish Ambassador Visits BIPSS

H.E. Britt F Hagström, Ambassador of Sweden in Dhaka visited BIPSS office on 7 January. She was accompanied by Mr. Sven Östberg, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden. They met BIPSS President Major General Muniruzzaman, and discussed matters of mutual interest.

BIPSS President made a presentation on the 'Current and Emerging Security Scenario of South Asia.' The presentation was followed by an interesting Q&A session. BIPSS officials were present during the session.

Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) in collaboration with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) organised an international seminar on ‘Humanitarian Intervention in Fragile States.’ The seminar was participated by experts from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. 

Major General ANM Muniruzzaman, President, BIPSS and Mr. Finn Ruda, Head of Mission, ICRC, Dhaka were delivered speech in the inaugural session.

There were two working sessions in the seminar where four papers were presented.

Working Session-I

Chair    : Brig-Gen ATM Amin, psc

Understanding Fragile State
Dr. Delwar Hossain, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka
Humanitarian Intervention in Fragile State: A Case Study
Dr. Shaheen Akhtar, Research Fellow, National Defense University, Pakistan

Working Session-II

Chair    :  Major General ANM Muniruzzaman, ndc, psc

The Legal Dimension of Humanitarian Intervention in Fragile States
Mr. Shiral Virantha Lakthilaka, Attorney at Law, Sri Lanka
The Role of ICRC in Humanitarian Intervention in Fragile States
Mr. Christopher Harland, Regional Legal Adviser,  ICRC, New Delhi

Lecture on
Decentralised Prosperity

Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) organized lecture on “Decentralised Prosperity”. Dr. Iqbal Z. Quadir, Founder and Executive Director of Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented his key note paper at the lecture. He asserted that only empowerment of the people through recognition of their productivity and innovation capacity could help to attain positive development thrust. Presided over by BIPSS president Major General A N M Muniruzzaman, ndc, psc, the function was attended by a cross section of people. Gen. Muniruzzaman echoed Dr Quadir saying that in today's context, the private and individual initiatives and talents should be helped to explore and flourish to sustain a steady development where the government should have a regularity role. Dr. Quadir who pioneered the Grameen Phone project, prompted by the concept "connectivity is productivity" said that connecting people is surely the most important factor to share ideas, values and information. In order to decentralize the telecommunication sector he wanted to work in rural areas. more..

Lecture Programme on
“Trends in Asian Terrorism” by Rohan Gunaratna

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research of S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is presenting a keynote paper on “ Trends in Asian Terrorism” at a local hotel in Dhaka. Held under the auspices of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), the function was chaired by BIPSS President Major General ANM Moniruzzaman, ndc, psc.
Click here to get the full version of the lecture
Click here to see the profile of Dr. Rohan Gunaratna

" Terrorism is not new; it has been used in different forms since the recorded history of human conflict. It has however come to limelight with new dimension in recent times. But yet the ambiguity regarding it’s definition and classification persists. It is our understanding that unlike some common literature, this is a problem not singular to any religion or faith, race or culture, country or region, but broadly spreads across our recent political history and landscape.

As an asymmetric form of warfare, it confers coercive power with many of the advantages of military force to a group at a fraction of the cost. As a method of conflict, it has survived and evolved through the ages to flourish in the modern information age. Terrorism continuously adopt as a hydra headed monster to meet challenges of emerging forms of conflict and exploit development in technology and society and to adapt to meet the challenges of emerging ­­forms of conflict and exploit development in technology and society,

It has also demonstrated increasing abilities to counter terrorism measures. Terrorism shows significant progress in graduating from sub-ordinate roles in nation states conflict to become prominent players in the international scene in their own right. They are being more integrated with other sub-state entities and assuming a global but again face-less identity of their own. A terrorist act is a political act or committed with the intention to attain certain political objectives.  Karl Von Clausewitz’s statement that “war is a continuation of policy by other means” is taken as truism by terrorists. They merely eliminate the intermediate step of armies and warfare and violence directly to the political conflicts. It has following characters

1. Political.
2. Psychological.
3. Coercive.
4. Dynamic and
5. Deliberate

At present there is a tendency of shifting terrorism from old to new regions of the world. In this, the current centre of gravity of terrorism is shifting from the western world to the Asian region. The epicenter of political violence and terrorism is now probably centered in Asia with increased acts of violence spreading from Afghanistan to Indonesia, from Philippines to India. The Asian region is increasingly becoming an area of instability. Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the shifting waves and the repel impacts of this trends of extremism and violence.

Now, I would like to call upon Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, to deliver his lecture on this important issue. "

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna at BIPSS Office

Click on image to see the full view

BIPSS Lecture on

BIPSS held a lecture on Asian Terrorism on Sunday, December 30, 2007. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Rohan Gunaratna. Dr. Gunaratna is an internationally renowned terrorism expert. He is the Head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is a Senior Fellow at the Jebsen Center for Counter Terrorism Studies, Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy.

Dr. Gunaratna is the author of several international bestsellers including War and Peace in Sri Lanka: With a Post- Accord Report from Jaffna. In BIPSS lecture Dr. Gunaratna talked about the current and rapidly emerging trends of Asian terrorism. Major General Muniruzzaman, President of BIPSS presided over the session.

The lecture was attended by the diplomats, academics, terrorism experts, senior military officials and members of the civil society.

As the leading institute for terrorism research in Bangladesh, BIPSS is going to have a closer academic and research collaboration with ICPVTR, of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Convinced of the necessity of promoting and reinforcing the cooperation, the mutual exchange of information, the improvement of research and academic programs, and  the exchange of experts and researchers, the Philippine Institute for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (PIPVTR) and the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 7 November 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

The MOU was signed a day before the commemoration of the Festival of Lights in Malaysia called Deepavali, which celebrates the victory against evil.

The purpose of the MOU between the BIPSS and the PIPVTR is to improve the scientific and academic levels of the two Institutes, to promote and intensify the friendship and the mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries in general, and the two Institutes in particular.  Through the MOU, the two institutes also agreed to conduct common research projects in the fields of mutual interests, specifically in the fields of peace, political violence, terrorism, strategy and security. 

The BIPSS is headed by retired Major General Munirazzaman, a well known Asian security expert based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and a member of the International Advisory Board of the PIPVTR.

BIPSS has recently joined the Council for Asian Terrorism Research (CATR). CATR is a consortium of most of the Asian countries who have joined to bring collective knowledge and effort in countering global terrorism. It is an initiative of the US govt and coordinated from Institute of Defence Analysis (IDA), Washington. CATR also carries out joint and collaborative research work with in the net work and shares it's rich experience with it's net work partners.

Major General Muniruzzaman, President of BIPSS was also invited to become  a member of the Board of Governors (BOG) and joined it's recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For more see www.catr.org.my