Thousands of miles away from the comfort of their homes, a group of Bangladeshi women police officers defy subcontinental stereotypes and face harsh realities of becoming foot soldiers in a United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti.
All this is documented by two Academy and Emmy award-winning women directors: Geeta Gandbhir of India and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Pakistan — on Bangladeshi police officers who were part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. The documentary, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers” was screened at the Mumbai Association of Moving Images Festival, after its world premiere to a packed audience at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier this year.
The documentary follows a unit of 160 Bangladeshi women who, between June 2013 and July 2014, joined the United Nations Stabilizing Mission in Haiti. They form one of the world’s first all-female and predominantly Muslim peacekeeping units. The women — young and old, married and single, mothers and daughters — come from every corner of Bangladesh.
The cameras follow these women from their recruitment to the unit, to pre-deployment training, and throughout their yearlong tour of duty in Haiti. They confront extreme poverty, crumbling healthcare systems, violent anti-government protests and opposition to their very presence.
While the Bangladeshi women immerse themselves in their duties, intimate scenes of the families they love and left behind provide a stark contrast throughout the film. “We witness first hand their return home and the subsequent reintegration into family life — a process that is at once a relief and a profound challenge,” they added.
The directors said they wanted to make a film about Muslim women who defy stereotypes. “These Bangladeshi women are the breadwinners who go out from their traditional communities to leave the men at home with the children. It’s a role for women in that region that we haven’t heard much about and these women do it effectively. It’s important for everyone to see that,” according to Geeta and Sharmeen.
As the top troops-sending country, Bangladesh has been demanding key roles in the peacekeeping missions. With the deployment of nearly 9,500 Bangladeshi troops and police in 10 different UN missions, Bangladesh tops the list of countries that send peacekeepers. Currently there are three brigadier generals from Bangladesh in commanding sector or deputy commanding sector.
The total UN procurement is around $3 billion a year, of them 90 percent is for the department of field support as they have 1,750,000 people around the world. In addition to troops, in some occasion Bangladesh could even supply medicines to UN force.
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