UN to collaborate with the Sierra Leone Police to attain 30% women’s participation in peacekeeping deployment.

UNAIDS Country Director and Resident Coordinator ad interim, Isaac Ahemesah, last Thursday assured the Sierra Leone Police Force (SLP) of the Country Team's efforts to continue its collaboration with them in the pursuit of achieving the minimum 30 percent representation at all levels of the Force, including in peacekeeping deployment as prescribed in the 2022 Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment law.

Speaking at the launch of the Barrier Assessment Report on Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations in the SLP at Sierra Palms Hotel, he recognized that the Force has made successful efforts to increase the number of women during the last five years and disclosed that, "women make up nearly 25% of the Sierra Leone Police."

The Resident Coordinator a.i. further stressed that the increased participation of women in peacekeeping operations had improved the effectiveness of missions, ensured better access to local communities, particularly women, and better promoted human rights and the protection of civilians.

"The participation of women in peacekeeping operations is, therefore, an essential condition for the success of this Agenda and of peacekeeping operations as such," he stated.

Mr. Ahemesah also hoped that the document launched would form the basis for future engagements to achieve increased women's participation and representation in all levels of peace operations.

In her welcome address, UN Women Head of Office Setcheme Mongbo said that the SLP had proven their commitment to policies and schemes geared towards making the institution more gender-responsive. She noted the adoption of the 2008 gender mainstreaming and sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment policies (“the twin policies”) and the accelerated promotion scheme targeting female officers as examples.

According to the UN Women Head, the assessment report seeks to understand the barriers that limit the increased participation of women and their deployment to multinational UN Peace Support Operations. It also proposes a pathway to make women peacekeepers operationally effective.

She revealed that the report identified 10 top barriers to women's meaningful participation in UN deployment and proposed recommendations to overcome the obstacles. "Therefore, we need to double our joint efforts to make the Gender Equality Act a reality across sectors," she said, realizing that it may require additional legal reforms, policies, and procedures involving long-term engagement and partnerships.

Like the Resident Coordinator a.i., Ms. Mongbo, also said that across the UN system, UN Women will continue to work with partners, especially the Elsie Initiative Fund and other donors, to strengthen and promote women's participation in global peace operations.

Speaking on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Mustapha Kamara said the report's launch resulted from the commitment they have made to work on challenges they face around the ten issues highlighted in the report. "My organization will take the findings and see how best we could work on them in improving on the challenges that have been discovered," AIG Kamara said.

To his female counterparts, Mr. Kamara said, "You are not alone in this fight," He added that as a law enforcement body, it is important for them to mirror the society they police and be ambassadors of the laws they implement.

Ms. Valnora Edwin, President of the Africa Women Leaders Network, chaired the occasion, and in her remarks, she congratulated the SLP for what she described as a laudable venture.

Statements were also made by Deborah Warren-Smith of the Elsie Initiative Fund and the ambassadors of Ghana and Germany to Sierra Leone, respectively, and the report was launched by the Director of Police Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Madam Elizabeth Turay.+