More female Police officers set to go for peacekeeping missions

{Eighty Rwanda National Police Individual Police Officers (IPOs), 73 of them females, will on January 25, leave for a one year peacekeeping operations in four separate United Nations missions. }

40 females will be deployed under the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), 28 of which 21 are females will go to South Sudan (UNMISS), 10 to Ivory Coast (UNOCI) while two others will be deployed under the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana, during the pre-deployment briefing on January 22 at the RNP headquarters in Kacyiru, challenged the officers to be focused to the mission mandate in a professional manner.

“Uphold the Rwandan and RNP values, work within the boundaries of your mission with discipline and avoid negative tendencies,” IGP Gasana said.
He urged them to work with other peacekeepers, ensure continuous improvement in their tasks and be catalysts to peace and stability in their respective missions.

RNP currently maintains over 600 police officers in eight UN missions, with about 21 percent of them females.

The missions are Haiti, Mali, Darfur, Abyei, South Sudan, Ivory Coast, CAR and Liberia.

Rwanda is currently among the leading contributors of women Police officers in peacekeeping missions, and is among the few countries that have elaborated the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 action plan.

The resolution urges all actors to increase the participation of women in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and incorporate gender perspectives in all UN peace and security efforts.

Rwanda’s Chief Inspector of Police Antoinette Umuraza was in October appointed the chairperson of the United Nations Police (UNPOL) Women Network under the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (Minusca).

Currently, over 20 per cent of the total Police Force is composed of women and the Force is moving towards the 30 per cent minimum threshold.

The RNP also holds the ‘Police Women Convention’, annually, which brings together female Police officers to deliberate on issues affecting them in their day-to-day duties.

RNP