The United Nations has decorated 27 Rwanda National Police (RNP) officers in Haiti with service medals for their outstanding peacekeeping role in the Caribbean nation.

The officers serving as Individual Police Officers (IPOs) under the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) were decorated on Tuesday in a ceremony held in Port Au Prince.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of Mission in Haiti, Sandra Honore, who presided over the medal parade, expressed gratitude for the professionalism and discipline exhibited by the decorated officers.

"You served with dignity, dedication and hard work and it is a pride to the UN,” Honore said.

She went on to appreciate the role played by the Rwandan government in respect to gender equality in peacekeeping operations, sighting an example of Haiti where out of 33 IPOs, 29 are female.

About 30 percent of Formed Police Unit (FPU) contingents in Haiti, Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan are also females.

Honore thanked the officers for their dedicated services to local security organs and going beyond their mandate to support local communities.

The award ceremony attended by the Commissioner of Police (CP) Joseph Mugisha, the contingent commander and the Rwandan community in Haiti, was also graced by high ranking government and MINUSTAH officials including Acting Police Commissioner Jaime Vigil, Deputy Force commander, Brig. Gen Andres Fuentealba and Acting Director of Mission, Support Clarck Toes, among others.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Claude Bizimana, the team leader of IPOs in Haiti pledged RNP’s continued support towards peace and security.

He expressed Rwanda’s commitment towards contributing to peace building despite the existing challenges and threats in missions.

"The appreciated work done was achieved by upholding Rwandan values throughout the mission,” said SSP Bizimana.

He thanked the MINUSTAH leadership for the support throughout their one year mission mandate, which he said helped them to execute their peacekeeping duties effectively and maintained the UN standards.

Currently, Rwanda maintains about 900 police peacekeepers in seven missions and four Police Professionals.About 750 officers serve under the five deployed Formed Police Units.

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