SENIOR UN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR MORE RUSSIAN FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS

SENIOR UN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR MORE RUSSIAN FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS
New York, Oct 10 2008 2:10PM
The top United Nations police official has urged Russia to contribute more female police officers to serve with the Organization's peacekeeping operations around the world.

In a meeting earlier this week in St. Petersburg, UN Police Adviser Andrew Hughes asked General Yuri Demidov, Director of the country's Advanced Training Police Academy, to boost the number of female Russian police officers from the current three, out of a total of 83 deployed with UN missions.

Mr. Hughes underscored to the Russian official that UN Police (UNPOL) seeks "the nomination of qualified female police officers from Member States, as these officers boost the trust and confidence in police by women, children and other vulnerable groups in post-conflict areas."

Women comprise one quarter of the UN Standing Police Capacity (SPC), created to provide immediate start-up capability on the ground as well as rapid support, advice and assistance.

That is a model to be emulated by other segments of UNPOL, Mr. Hughes said, stressing the need for Member States' cooperation to meet short- and medium-term targets to increase the number of female police officers serving with UN missions.

He emphasized that he has made recruiting female police officers a key priority, noting that women serve in a number of senior UNPOL positions, including his Deputy Adviser and the Deputy Police Commissioner for the hybrid UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

But the Adviser cautioned that there is a need "to be realistic. Policing has been a male-dominated profession for many years and still is in some countries."

At present, only 870, or almost eight per cent, of the more than 11,500 UNPOL officers deployed in 18 peacekeeping missions are women, up from four per cent two years ago.

While in Russia, Mr. Hughes addressed INTERPOL's annual General Assembly meeting, where he warned that organized crime poses a grave threat to countries emerging from conflict that are seeking to consolidate peace and called for increased global cooperation to address the scourge.

Collaboration between UNPOL and INTERPOL in peacekeeping operations "brings the combined weight of a majority of the world's States to bear on organized crime networks," he said.
Oct 10 2008 2:10PM
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