#PHOTO POLICE WOMAN FREE#

#PHOTO POLICE WOMAN FREE#

With support of the Goma Field Level I clinic and contingents, she also set up a free medical outreach programme to manage the peculiar health care needs of women prisoners, accompanying infants and other vulnerable groups in prison. “In Goma, my efforts led to the separation of the minor girls from the juvenile boys, initiated basketry, bakery and literacy programmes to facilitate rehabilitation and social integration of women prisoners and minors in the facility,” shared Officer Were. No stranger to the male-dominated environment of the justice and corrections system, Corrections Officer Béatrice Were made it her mission to improve conditions for vulnerable groups, mainly women and youth, in the prison systems in Goma while serving with the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Her efforts were recognized as she was named the first-ever recipient of the UN Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers in June 2022. With her vast technical expertise in crisis intervention, she mentored United Nations colleagues and national prison staff, created a women-only rapid intervention team, and integrated rapid intervention training into the CAR national prison curriculum.

In crisis situations, including riots and detainee escapes, Zoungrana led MINUSCA’s rapid intervention response. Zoungrana coordinates the security teams at the Ngaragba Central Prison, which is the largest and most notorious detention centre in the Central African Republic (CAR), housing 1,335 inmates, which accounts for 69% of the entire prison population in the country. Téné Maïmouna Zoungrana of Burkina Faso made her mark as a Corrections Officer serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), where she leads a team of 42 officers. UN Corrections Officer Téné Maïmouna Zoungrana. “This is significant, given women are traditionally shunned from expressing themselves in the region,” adds Kinda. As many as three or more victims per month are now coming forward, as compared to none before her arrival. “The project that I developed and implemented - to help 50 local women make and sell ecological bags - enabled them to pay for their children’s school fees and medical expenses.”įurther, Officer Kinda’s awareness-raising efforts led to more victims of gender-based violence coming forward to report their cases to local authorities and seek medical care. “During my deployment, I observed that women in Mali are not always made to feel independent and empowered… so I made it my personal goal to change this,” she explains. Serving as a gender focal point with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) since September 2020, Officer Kinda worked to empower the women of Menaka, so that they could gain financial independence and seek justice for the sexual and gender-based violence they had experienced.

Photo police woman