United Nations Woman Senior Police Officer Command Development Course
From 3 to 8 December 2017, the Police Division of the Department of Peace Operations and the African Union will co-host the first female senior police officer command development course for senior police women from Anglophone Africa. The course location is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013) and 2242 (2015) recognized that sustainable peace can only be achieved with the equal participation of women in peace operations. Security Council resolution 2242 (2015) that requests the Secretariat to double the number of female police officers within five years.
The United Nations launched a Global Effort initiative in 2009 to increase the participation of female police officers in peacekeeping operations to 20 per cent. To increase the numbers of female individual police officers, the Police Division conducts all-female selection assistance and assessment trainings (SAAT) to familiarize female officers with and prepare them for the assessment for mission service. The representation of women increased to 17 percent among individual police officers and to six percent in formed police units from 2009 to 2016. However, women in command positions have remained low.
In this context, the Police Division is delivering a series of female senior police officer command development courses to increase the participation of female UN police leadership in United Nations peace operations and special political missions.
The courses aim to create a talent pool of qualified female senior police officers for recruitment as heads of police component positions (P-5 to D-2), for contracted professional staff positions at UN headquarters and for other senior positions in UN peace operations. Courses will be delivered in Asia, Africa and Latin America in 2017 and 2018.
Requirements for nominations
Police officers need to be nominated by their governments, through the Permanent Missions in New York. They also need to fulfil the following criteria:
- The commitment to be nominated by their respective country for a command position in a United Nations peace operation
- The commitment for the person to deploy to a United Nations peace operation, if selected
- Minimum rank of Lieutenant Colonel or equivalent
- Minimum of seven (7) years police experience
- Previous command experience
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree
- Easily read, speak, understand and write in English
- Graduation from a certified police academy or similar law enforcement training institution
Candidates from the hosting region will be prioritized. Subject to availability, candidates from other regions may be accepted.
Funding support from the United Nations is available for a limited number of participants to cover travel, accommodation and meals. Any requests for this assistance must be received by the organisers in writing no later than the deadline.