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Policewomen at the conference yesterday. Nadege Imbabazi.
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Participants of the 9th Police Women Convention in a group photo yesterday. Nadege I
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Assistant Commissioner of Police; Teddy Ruyenzi speaks to The New Times as one the particiapnts of the 9th Police Women Convention yesterday. Nadege I
Women
officers under the Rwanda National Police (RNP) have commended the
Government’s decision to deploy women officers to areas that are closer
to their families.
Speaking at the sidelines of the 9th Police Women Convention
yesterday, Assistant Commissioner of Police; Teddy Ruyenzi told The New
Times that the decision; which was recommended at one of ...their previous
conventions, had significantly improved the productivity of the female
officers.
“Most women used to serve far away from their homes and many found this challenging.
“This is a very big step in helping policewomen deliver on their
duties because it was stressful having to follow up on domestic issues
while trying to deliver on your duties. We are very happy about the
change,” she said.
About 90 per cent of the policewomen who wanted to be near their families have so far had their wish granted, she said.
Ruyenzi is the contigent commander of a female-only Formed Police
Unit of RNP that will soon be deployed for a peacekeeping mission.
She said that this policy has helped boost the number of women joining the police force.
Today, women make 21 per cent of the entire Force according to official figures.
The policewomen meet annually to discuss challenges they
experienced the previous year, share experiences and come up with
recommendations which are delivered to police leadership for changes to
be considered if need be.
“We give our superiors these recommendations so that they can help
us tweak some areas so that we can perform better, encourage other women
who may be interested in joining the police to do so while at the same
time promoting gender equality,” he said.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police for Administration and
Personnel, Juvenal Marizamunda, told those in attendance that a gender
policy for the Force had been given the attention it deserves to enable
both women and men to serve to the best of their ability.
“We believe that empowering women and recognising their talents is fundamental in our policing journey.
The One UN Resident Coordinator, Fode Ndiaye, said that just as it
is culturally believed that women are the heart of the family, if their
gifts and talents were to be put to good use, there would be lots of
value addition.
“In terms of numbers, women represent 52 per cent of the population
of Rwanda, hence any intervention excluding them would definitely lead
to a deficient outcome. It is unlikely that the sustainable development
and economic transformation can be achieved if women were left behind,”
he said.
He commended the role of the female officers in peace support
operations, especially in combating gender based violence and other
forms of domestic violence.
Rwanda is currently the second largest contributor of female
police peacekeepers. As of February, Rwanda was ranked the third largest
overall contributor of police and military peacekeepers, globally.
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