Dipu Moni (born 8 December 1965) is a Bangladeshi politician, and has been the Minister of Education of Bangladesh since January 2019 and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

representing the Chandpur-3 constituency. She was Foreign Minister of Bangladesh from 2009 to 2013. She was appointed the first female

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

on 6 January 2009 after victory for the Awami League-led Grand Alliance on 29 December 2008.

Early life

Moni is a daughter of MA Wadud who was a founding member of the

Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and known especially for his role in the Language Movement and as the first Council-elected General Secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra League. Moni passed HSC from

Holy Cross College, Dhaka Holy Cross College (HCC) ( bn, হলি ক্রস কলেজ) is a Catholic higher-secondary school for girls, located at Tejgaon in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It serves students of class 11 and class 12. It was founded in 1950 by the Sisters of ...

. Moni studied

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

Dhaka Medical College and Hospital Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated DMCH) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It houses medical school as well as a tertiary care hospital on one campus. The country's first ev ...

and LLB at

Bangladesh National University The National University of Bangladesh ( bn, জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, বাংলাদেশ ) is a public university of Bangladesh that was established by an Act of Parliament as an affiliating University ...

. She later earned Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and earned

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mo ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

as an external student. She had completed a course on Negotiations and Conflict Resolutions from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. She is a lawyer of

Bangladesh Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সুপ্রীম কোর্ট) is the highest court of law in Bangladesh. It is composed of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division, and was created by Part VI C ...

Political career

Moni was the Secretary for Women's Affairs and a Member of the Sub‐Committee on Foreign Affairs of the

before her induction to the cabinet. She represented Chandpur‐3 as a Member of Bangladesh Parliament. She worked for women's rights and entitlements, health legislation, health policy and management, health financing, strategic planning, and health and human rights under the Constitution and law in Bangladesh's economic and social development programmes and foreign policy issues of the region and globally. As a

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

she has represented her government's position to the Cabinet Ministers and public representatives of Asia, Europe and the US, Ambassadors and Senior Representatives of International Institutions. As the foreign minister she sought an apology for the

1971 Bangladesh Genocide The genocide in Bangladesh began on 25 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as the government of Pakistan, dominated by West Pakistan, began a military crackdown on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to suppress Bengali call ...

from Pakistan. She also tried to bring the absconding killers of president

Sheikh Mujib Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

. She is the present

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

Joint General Secretary. She was elected chairman of

Asian University for Women Asian University for Women (AUW) is an independent, international university in Chittagong, Bangladesh seeking to educate a new generation of leaders in Asia. AUW admits students solely on the basis of merit, regardless of their family's incom ...

in 2016. She is the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.

Criticisms

As the minister of foreign affairs, Moni was widely criticized by different news media because of her frequent overseas visits. According to some news reports, she made 187 foreign trips and 600 days of overseas stay in four and a half years. In response, Moni said she went abroad every time with the consent of the prime minister, who gave her approval after studying the pros and cons of every visit. She made 114 foreign tours, including 36 with the president and the prime minister and claimed that the number of her bilateral visits was 62, not 17 as reported.

Personal life

Moni is married to Tawfique Nawaz, an Oxbridge educated senior advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moni, Dipu 1965 births Living people People from Chandpur District Holy Cross College, Dhaka alumni Alumni of University of London Worldwide National University, Bangladesh alumni Dhaka Medical College alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Alumni of the University of London Awami League politicians Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad Women government ministers of Bangladesh Foreign ministers of Bangladesh Female foreign ministers 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladeshi women diplomats 11th Jatiya Sangsad members Education ministers of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman family Bangladeshi physicians Bangladeshi women lawyers 20th-century Bangladeshi lawyers 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians