The United Nations has announced that Burkina Faso’s Chief Warrant Officer Alizeta Kabore Kinda will receive the 2022 United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year Award.
This award was considered following the recognition of her efforts to boost trust between the authorities and local communities, including survivors of gender-based violence.
The United Nations made this declaration through its official website and said the award would be presented at the third United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS), to be held at the UN Headquarters from August 31 to September 1, 2022.
It would be recalled that Kinda serves as a gender focal point with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), where she supports the Malian Security Forces in the Menaka region to promote and improve understanding of gender, child protection, human rights and civil protection issues.
Following her efforts, victims of sexual and gender-based abuse are coming forward to report their cases to local authorities and receive medical attention — three or more per month currently, compared to none before she arrived. Her efforts have also focused on expanding the number of girls in schools and reducing early marriages.
She has been cited as a shining example of how women’s engagement in peacekeeping operations helps bring new viewpoints to the table by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
Lacroix added, “Chief Warrant Officer Kinda’s work is a shining example of how the participation of women police in peace operations directly impacts the sustainability of peace by helping to bring different perspectives to the table and making our work more inclusive. Through her actions, she embodies a more representative, efficient police service that is better equipped to serve and protect the public”.
On her part, Kinda said her award would inspire women and girls around the world to pursue policing careers despite the gender stereotypes often associated with the profession that men are better suited to enforce the laws and protect the population.
