Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury has been a career diplomat, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, President of the UN Security Council, President of UNICEF Executive Board, UN Under-Secretary-General, Senior Special Advisor to UN General Assembly President, and recipient of the U Thant Peace Award, UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal for Culture of Peace, Spirit of the UN Award and University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor’s Medal for Global Leadership for Peace, 2018 Global Women’s Peace Award, recipient of the inaugural Global Citizen Award by the Soka University of America and 2021 Visionary Leadership Award presented by civil society organizations.

His legacy and leadership in the service of global community are boldly imprinted in his pioneering initiatives in March 2000 as the President of the Security Council for the political and conceptual breakthrough leading to the groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security and in September 1999 for adoption of the landmark programme on the Culture of Peace by the UN General Assembly.

In March 2003, the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan conferred to Ambassador Chowdhury an Honorary Doctorate for his work on women’s issues, child rights and culture of peace as well as for the strengthening of the United Nations. In May 2012, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa degree from the Saint Peter’s University of New Jersey, United States. In May 2021, the University of La Verne, California, USA conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate for his work on global peace and development.

Ambassador Chowdhury is a Founder of New York-based civil society coalition, The Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP).