Trend, Challenge and Way Forward
Fiji’s Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho was one of a few Chiefs of Police given the opportunity to address the UN Peacekeeping Police International Symposium organized by the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Public Security last week.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the two-day workshop which was co-organized by the China People's Police University and China Peacekeeping Police Training Center was attended to by close to 150 senior officials from police-contributing countries, think tanks and scholars both online or offline.
Focusing on the theme, Trend, Challenges and Way Forward for Peacekeeping Operations in the New Decade, Fiji’s Commissioner of Police in his video address acknowledged the Ministry of Public Security of China’s International Cooperation Department for providing a platform to discuss and look at practical measures of working around the challenges brought on by the global pandemic.
Brigadier General Qiliho said the Fiji Police'’s commitment to maintaining its UN peacekeeping contribution has not changed since the first deployment of Fijian Police Peacekeepers in 1989.
“A small Pacific Island nation we may be, we are driven by our passion to serve and have more to contribute to the United Nations”.
“We have a young and dynamic police force with capable and highly skilled officers who have received training abroad in specialized areas of policing”.
He went on to acknowledge the increased level of cooperation among peace-keeping contributing member countries through specific areas of training and education.
“We were fortunate to have sent four officers to attend the UNPOL Training Architecture Strategic Guidance Framework Workshop held in Brindisi, Italy in June 2019 where they attained UN recognition as Curriculum Development Officers, enabling us to review and formulate new Curriculum to meet the evolving demands and challenges of Peacekeeping”.
Brigadier General Qiliho said the unpredictable global environment as well as the new challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all police-contributing countries.
The Commissioner of Police said he looked forward to the deepening of exchanges and cooperation to assist in the institution's efforts of enhancing the capability of Fijian Police officers to be able to tackle policing challenges in the new decade, beneficial to both the UN and member states.
The Fiji Police has to date deployed more than 1,500 police officers for overseas missions.
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