Ghanaian United Nations Police Officer, Supt. Phyllis Ama Tebuah Osei, has been adjudged as the 2018 UN Female Police Officer of the Year. 

Phyllis Ama Tebuah Osei, who is serving with the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), received the Award for her extraordinary work, which directly and positively impacted the community and the host state police in Jubaland.

Ms. Osei, a Superintendent of Police from the Ghana Police Service, was selected for the Award for her contributions in enhancing the protection of women and girls, as well as her initiatives to promote women rights in the host state police, which embodies the spirit of the award and embraces the values of international policing.

“It is an honour to work for UNSOM, where I assisted in strengthening activities on gender and child-related issues,” said Osei. “I also support the police in Jubaland on issues of Justice and Human Rights,” she added.

Click here to watch the Award ceremony which took place in New York on Monday. It was co-hosted by the UN Police Division and the Permanent Mission of Canada.

Officer Osei has been particularly successful at initiating an adult literacy training for 49 female police officers in Jubaland. The training’s overall goal is to improve their literacy and increase their chances for future promotions. She also formed a Female Peacekeeper Network (FPN) within UNSOM and AMISOM to provide support to female peacekeepers.

United Nations Police Adviser, Commissioner Luis Carrilho, praised the awardee for her exemplary conduct.

“Ms. Osei was deployed to Somalia earlier this year in February 2018,” he said.

“By April, she had already identified and trained two gender focal points in AMISOM who went onto mentor and advise police officers in the host state police, thereby contributing to the building of a much-needed capacity. Soon after, Ms. Osei established four gender desks in the host state police, facilitated a training on sexual and gender-based violence, and initiated a proposal that called for the establishment of a police post near the community thus ensuring access for SGBV survivors.”

Mr. Carrilho explains that nominations are requested annually from all peacekeeping and special political missions where UN police are deployed. Based on criteria for high performance, a selection committee, comprising policing and peacekeeping experts, evaluate the conduct and achievements of the nominees with an emphasis of impacting policing service delivery.

The Award aims to establish a role model for women police peacekeepers and to promote the UN Secretary General’s Gender Parity Strategy and DPKO’s Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy by encouraging member-states to deploy more female police officers to peacekeeping and special political missions.