UN police officer recognized for protecting vulnerable Somali women from abuse

[Deeq A.]

United Nations Police Officer Phyllis Osei has been awarded the 2018 UN Female Police Officer Award, in recognition for her outstanding work with the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), at a ceremony in New York on Monday.

Since joining UNSOM in February, Ms. Osei – who holds the rank of Superintendent with the Ghanaian police force – has swiftly made a direct and positive impact on the community and host state police in Jubaland.

Superintendent Osei has played an important role in enhancing the protection of women and girls, sparking initiatives to promote women’s rights in the Jubaland state police force, and successfully initiating adult literacy training for 49 female police officers: Ms. Osei also formed a Female Peacekeeper Network to support female peacekeepers working with the UNSOM and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

UN Police Adviser, Commissioner Luis Carrilho, praised Superintendent Osei for her exemplary conduct. “Ms. Osei was deployed to Somalia earlier this year in February 2018”, he said.

“By April, she had already identified and trained two [staff to tackle gender issues] in AMISOM who went on to mentor and advise police officers in the host state police. Soon after, Ms. Osei established four gender desks in the host state police, facilitated a training on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and initiated a proposal that called for the establishment of a police post near the community thus ensuring access for SGBV survivors”.

Nominations for the Award are requested annually from all peacekeeping and special political missions where UN police are deployed. Based on criteria for high performance, a selection committee, comprising policing and peacekeeping experts, evaluate the conduct and achievements of the nominees with an emphasis on impact of policing service delivery.

The Award aims to establish a role model for women police peacekeepers and to promote the UN Secretary General’s Gender Parity Strategy and DPKO’s Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy, through encouraging Member States to deploy more female police officers to peacekeeping and special political missions.

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