DHAKA, Nov 02, 2019 (BSS) – Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nation (UN)Ambassador Masud Bin Momen said that Bangladesh would lead from the front to secure a first ever UN resolution on creating awareness on drowning prevention.
“This long overdue resolution, if adopted, will encourage member states and UN agencies towards preventing this menace,” said Masud.
Masud said this while presiding over a meeting of the ‘Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention’ on Wednesday (30 October, 2019) at New York, said a press release.
Thirteen member states of the Group and representatives from the WHO and London- based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) attended the meeting where a resolution on “Drowning Prevention” decided to move forward to table the resolution during the 74th Session of the UNGA.
The ‘Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention’ is an informal coalition of 15 member states of the UN formed in 2017 to actively promote the Group’s objectives and work to raise awareness about one of the major causes of child injury and death.
Ambassador Masud mentioned that this global and preventable epidemic secures some much-deserved political space internationally.
He informed the meeting of the on-going policy actions being undertaken in Bangladesh including government’s decision in 2015 declaring that all children should learn to swim.
The speakers at the meeting highlighted the gravity of the issue which caused death to at least 4 million children, women and men globally in the last decade alone.