On 1 September 2006, the UN praised India’s unprecedented move to send a unit of 125 female police officers to assist United Nations peacekeeping operations in Liberia. The 125 officers are currently in their final stages of training in India and will be deployed to Liberia in October 2006.

The female officers will form a specialized unit, known as a Formed Police Unit (FPU), as part of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). These units have been used successfully by the UN in recent years to bridge the gap between regular and lightly-armed police and fully-armed peacekeeping troops. The all-female Indian unit will join other FPUs currently serving in Liberia where their tasks are likely to include crowd control and training local police officers.

UN Police Adviser Mark Kroeker stated that: “This decision is extremely timely because as we look at our deployment of women in UN police components around the world, we still retain an unacceptably small number of three or four per cent, compared to up to 25 per cent of women officers in an acceptable police organization. It enhances our access to vulnerable populations by having women in UN missions and also sends a message to the post-conflict societies where we work that women officers can have any position and play any role in a police organization, including that of commissioner, or deputy-commissioner or chief of regions or whatever.”

To read the full article on the UN website, click here.

Click here to download a video of 'This World: UN Girl Squad' depicting the life of the female peacekeepers.

'Focus on Women' lists the latest gender-related publications from the UN. The document also includes an order form and details of how to request material online.

Featured titles include 'Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World'; 'Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women'; and 'Mainstreaming Gender in Environmental Assessment and Early Warning'.

To read the document, click here.

The October-December 2006 issue of New World contained a special guest article by Anushay Hossain, Executive Assistant at UNIFEM UK. In the article she explores the relationship between gender inequality and environmental degredation, using the example of deforestation in Africa.

To read the article, download the October-December issue of New World and turn to page 26.