UN Police Train Somali Police Force Officers On Gender-based Violence

Twenty-five officers from the Somali Police Force drawn from various parts of the country began a five-day training course on the prevention of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).

The UN-sponsored training opened today and will acquaint the officers with different ways of handling sexual and gender-based violence.

The Somali Police Force Deputy Commissioner Gen. Bashir Abdi Mohamed officially opened the workshop. “We must not accept for anyone to be physically abused. We have laws and values that we must uphold.

The so-called traditional period is over; we have to understand and be pragmatic about it. I want you to be ambassadors in upholding the values of policing,” said Gen. Mohamed.

The UN Development Programme’s Head of Governance and Rule of Law in Somalia, Franco Sanchez, said the UN was committed to working with the Somali police to investigate SGBV cases.

The training will focus on the collection of evidence in cases of Sexual and Gender-Based violence and interviewing techniques required to obtain critical information from victims.

UNSOM