Dhaka: Bangladesh has been elected as a member and Vice President of the executive board of UNICEF this year, according to a message received here from New York. 

The announcement came at the first regular session 2019 of the Executive Board of UNICEF at the UN on Tuesday, reports the UNB. 

UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore and newly elected President of UNICEF’s Executive Board, the Permanent Representative of Sudan to the UN Omer Dahab Fadl Mohamed addressed at the opening session. 

Addressing the opening session, Permanent Representative (PR) of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Masud Bin Momen has said Bangladesh has made considerable progress in protecting and promoting child rights. 

‘Major achievements include reducing child mortality, declining malnutrition, increasing primary school enrolment, distribution of free textbooks on the first day of the year, child focused expenditure tracking and implementation of the National Action plan to control repression against children and women,’ he said. 

Mentioning the UNICEF’s research on Bangladesh Government’s success in child related sector, the PR said, ‘UNICEF’s study reveals that government’s investments in social safety net programs, adolescent health, and opportunities for secondary education for girls helped positively towards ending child marriage’.

The PR acknowledged the excellent support provided by UNICEF to Bangladesh government and the people of Bangladesh for the traumatized and forcibly displaced Rohingya children and women.

Ambassador Masud mentioned about UNICEF’s role to reduce the disparity between children of under-developed and children of developed countries. 

In this regard, he commended the commencement of the UNICEF’s initiative entitled ‘Generation Unlimited’ and he expects it’s more expanding in future.