The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was established in 2011 to protect civilians, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, monitor human rights and support the implementation of peace agreements crucial to the stability of the world’s youngest nation, amid increasing violence.
The Mission includes personnel from more than 70 different countries around the world.
Returning home after a year and a half with UNMISS, this year’s Police Woman of the Year Award winner shared what it takes to make an impact and emphasized the need to have more women in the field.
“Doing the right thing, trying to do the right thing, this is the reason I became a police officer: to help people and those who need help.
My parents are also police officers. So, I’m not sure if maybe it’s in the DNA or something, but of course, when you’re a kid, you grow up with role models like your parents, and then you want to follow them.
My biggest motivation is that we can have an impact on the ground. That our presence as police officers really makes a difference. It makes a difference in small interactions during patrol activities, for example, which is really satisfying.
Inspector Stephanie Königs from Germany briefs other members of her UNMISS unit.
Colleagues from all over the world
Personally, working with colleagues from around the world is inspiring and is a great support that I experience in the Mission.
It is an experience that showed me that the world is very big, but we are very similar. AND we have so many things in common that we should focus on the things we have in common.
The things you don’t see
Inspector Stephanie Königs at her farewell in South Sudan
is he little things that are not seenwhere we can have an impact. I had engagements with young women, for example, who were afraid to talk to us at first. But through engagement, they opened up and even shared and were honest.
They said, ‘We weren’t really sure if we should talk to you, but you gave us this good feeling.’ So, thanks for that. And I think this is what most people don’t know about peacekeeping: that we make these small compromises.
It’s patience and listening. And this is only possible if you are really interested in the stories and vision of the local community.
Listen and understand, or at least try to understand, because we are not in your shoes. And patience, of course, we need to build trust. Without trust we cannot hear anything because nothing will be shared.
The goal is to build trusting relationships and have the local community trust the UN police, making them feel comfortable sharing their concerns.
‘Every day is different’
Every day is different, and every day you wake up and start your homework, you don’t know what will happen. You don’t notice the changes throughout the day. There is no typical day and that’s what it’s all about: that mindset you have to have.
You don’t know what will happen. You don’t know who you’ll meet on patrol, you don’t know what they’ll tell you, you don’t know about safety.
More women at the table
Being a patrol officer in the Mission, it was very good to have this feminine focus. Then I was able to connect with the women of the communities, with the children, but also with the men.
At the United Nations it is nothing new for women to work as police officers. However, despite all the policies we have at the United Nations, there are not enough women at the table in operations.
So, in the meetings, for example, that I attended during my time in the Mission, I would have loved to see more women with me around the table, since many times I was the only one.”