07 March 2010 - More than thirty female police officers have today begun training in Gender, Child Protection and Community Policing courses before their deployment for field duty assignments in all three Darfur states.

The officers, who form UNAMID’s first-ever all female police contingent, had arrived in El Fasher late last month from Namibia and Tanzania.

The five-day training will place emphasis on the issues surrounding gender-based violence and child abuse in order for peacekeepers to better assist those most affected by the conflict. The women officers are in a unique position to provide help as many of the victims of this violence find these officers as better able to understand their trauma.

While deployment of UNAMID’s police force has reached 76%, only 310 of the Mission’s 2898 police advisors are women.