UNITED NATIONS
A peacekeeper from Burkina Faso serving in Mali has been honored for her work to boost trust between authorities and local communities, including survivors of gender-based violence.
Chief Warrant Officer Alizeta Kabore Kinda received the 2022 United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year Award. It was established in 2011 to recognize exceptional contributions of female police officers in U.N. peace operations and to promote women’s empowerment.
Kinda is deployed as a gender focal point with the U.N. Mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA.
She supports the Malian Security Forces in the Ménaka region to promote and improve understanding of gender, child protection, human rights and civil protection issues. Her efforts have led to more victims of sexual and gender-based violence coming forward to report their cases to local authorities and to receive medical care. There now are three or more case reports per month, up from none before her arrival.
She also has focused on expanding the number of girls in schools and reducing early marriages.
“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,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, U.N. under-secretary-general for peace operations. “Through her actions, she embodies a more representative, efficient police service that is better equipped to serve and protect the public.”
Kinda expressed hope that her award will 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.”
U.N. police enhance international peace and security by supporting host countries in conflict, post-conflict and other crisis situations. Women make up nearly one-fifth of the 10,000 U.N. police officers serving in 16 peace operations around the world.
Throughout her career, Kinda has focused on protecting and promoting women’s and children’s rights, including between 2013 and 2015, when she was a gender focal point at the U.N.’s mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
She performed these duties in Burkina Faso within the Ministry of Security and the Regional Brigade for the Protection of Women and Children, a unit of the national police, as an investigator on sexual violence and exploitation.