IGP affirms Ghana's commitment to world peace

The Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor has affirmed Ghana's commitment to world peace, saying "our commitment to duty and service therefore knows no bounds as reflected in our peacekeeping contributions".

He was addressing the first ever Chiefs of Police(COP) Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Attended by more than 100 COP, it is reviewing current and emerging global threats affecting UN operations, including organized crime in all its forms, violence and extremism. It is also discussing how UN Police, in partnership with other entities can address these threats informed by previous lessons learned and best practices.

Ghana, he said had maintained her position of being among the top 10 troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping operations for both police and military worldwide.

Acknowledging that peacekeeping in an era of ethnic cleansing and brutal civil war is not a tidy affair,and with many countries serving the UN in its quest for global peace and security by contributing their police, military, cash and in kind, the IGP stated that "very few countries can boast of Ghana's consistency and steadfast willingness to answer the UN call to duty".

Mr. Kudalor noted that after 56 years of consistent UN operations, neither the commitment of the Ghana government nor its peacekeepers had waned, since the country keeps on deploying men and women in almost all the UN peacekeeping missions.

True to the pledge made by the Ghanaian leader, President John Dramani Mahama last September at the UN General Assembly, Ghana deployed her first ever Formed Police Unit last year to the United Nations Mission to South Sudan and is now in the process of deploying the second FPU, he noted.

Further more, the IGP was happy that the partnership between Ghana and the UN had been mutually beneficial to both parties giving the complex and multidisciplinary tasks, including restoring public order, building local police, project management, reforms, restructuring, information technology, monitoring human rights and organizing democratic elections.

With regard to the new vision of the UN to have more female police in peacekeeping operations, Mr. Kudalor remarked that he was particularly happy with it since it formed part of the Ghana government's main policy of getting more women involved in all facets of national life.

Earlier during a three member panel discussion on "UN Gaps, Opportunities, Professionalism", the moderator, Ambassador Martha Pobee, Ghana's Permanent Representative to the UN stressed the importance of peace and security in the world. That is why all hands are needed on the deck to achieve it.

Ms. Jane Holl-Lute,Special Coordinator on Improving the UN response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse said the issue of sexual abuse persists at the UN missions and stressed the need to accelerate investigations into the system and to stop the practice.

Mr. Stefan Feller, UN Police Adviser, called for more female police in the various operations to ensure gender equality, since some aspects of the work can best be handled by female.

Mr Abdallah Wafy, Permanent Representative of Niger argued forcefully that the military deployment model mostly used for UN operations had affected the way policemen are deployed. To correct this anomaly, he said all police mandates must be based on the rule of law and peace building to achieve the desired results.