During the 14th United Nations Police Week (4-8 November 2019), heads of United Nations police component committed at UN Headquarters to redoubling their contributions to key strategic initiatives of the Organization, including Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Police Week provided an invaluable opportunity for senior Secretariat officials and police leaders from the field to provide briefings and exchange experiences with a significant impact on both their daily work and longer-term planning.
Representing 15 peacekeeping operations, special political missions and regional offices, the heads of police components discussed topics, such as enhancing performance and accountability, strengthening conduct and discipline, sustaining peace through promoting human rights, and realizing the role of the United Nations police as a systemwide service provider and focal point on policing and law enforcement matters across the UN System. The Department of Peace Operations was represented by Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions Alexandre Zouev, United Nations Police Adviser Luis Carrilho and Deputy Police Adviser Shaowen Yang, while senior officials from other departments and offices also participated.
Police commissioners and senior police advisers from UN peace operations in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Abyei and Mali also briefed the United Nations Security Council and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) on their efforts to advance A4P and the political and development objectives of the Organization. The senior adviser to the mayor of Bangui’s Third District, Ms. Marie-Joseph Fitah, also shared with the Council her firsthand experience of the contributions of the UN police in areas such as protection, partnerships and peacebuilding in the Central African Republic.
The conference included a presentation on the United Nations Female Police Officer of the Year Award. Major Seynabou Diouf of the Senegal National Police received the 2019 United Nations Female Police Officer award, and she is currently serving as a team leader of the Task Force on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in Goma.
In addition, a side event, organized with the International Peace Institute and supported by the Government of Canada, reflected on the role of women police officers and their experiences in peacekeeping operations and approaches for increasing female police officers. The United Nations police continue to make notable progress towards achieving the UN Secretary-General’s gender parity goals, having met or exceeded some key targets ahead of schedule.