Matadi, 6 June 2012 – How best to incorporate the gender concept into the Congolese National Police Force is the theme addressed by a hundred police elements during a workshop held on 6 June by the Gender section of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), in Matadi, the sea port capital of Bas-Congo province.

The workshop, whose theme revolved around the incorporation of the Gender concept into the Protection of Women and Girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was opened by the provincial Minister of Home Affairs and attended by a number of MONUSCO officials and Congolese National Police Force officers including Bas-Congo province Commissioner, General Raus Chalwe.

In his opening remarks, the provincial Minister for Home Affairs expressed the wish "to see women alongside men everywhere, including in managing public affairs." He however noticed some "deficits on women's recruitment in positions of command, while recognizing the high literacy rate achieved by young girls at the primary, secondary and university levels."

General Chalwe, for his part, said "the execution of the noble and heavy mission of securing people and their goods, assigned to the national police force by the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in its Article 182 that calls for the participation and contribution of all Congolese people, without any discrimination."

The theme of the workshop also covered issues relating to the policy for gender incorporation into the security sector, human rights, and health, including the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Maïmouna Traoré/ MONUSCO