Yesterday, members of the UN Country Team (UNCT) in Fiji hosted Fiji’s acting Yesterday, members of the UN Country Team (UNCT) in Fiji hosted Fiji’s acting

Commissioner of Police, Juki Fong Chew, and his team, to share updates on the work of the UN in Fiji, and opportunities for greater collaboration moving forward.

UN Resident Coordinator to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Sanaka Samarasinha, thanked acting Commissioner Chew for the continued partnership with the Fiji Police Force (FPF), adding that ongoing projects between the UN and the FPF have been successful.

“Our ongoing work with the Fiji Police Force ranges from human rights training, to the installment of cameras in interview rooms, and capacity building of police officers, so we share a long partnership with the Fiji Police Force and we look forward to building on this through ongoing work as well as new projects,” Mr Samarasinha said.

The UNCT Fiji is made up of the Heads and Deputy Heads of all UN agencies that work in Fiji and today’s discussion was a good opportunity to present to acting Commissioner Chew the breadth of ongoing UN work in the country:

– Through UN Development Programme (UNDP Pacific Office), video recording equipment is being installed in police stations around the country and officers are being trained on how to use the equipment.

– UNDP is also supporting the capacity of police officers to be responsive to the needs of survivors of gender-based violence and are in the process of renovating specific rooms to make them suitable for providing services to survivors.

– Through UNICEF, UN Women and UNDP, support is also being provided to the Sexual Offences Unit specifically to increase capacity of police officers to deal with victims and survivors.

– Through the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, police officers around the country are being provided with human rights training, including the recent rollout of training on small islands outside of Vanua Levu.

Mr Samarasinha closed by sharing that the UN will be looking to work with the FPF during high level visits of key UN officials from UN Headquarters, which are expected to take place in the first quarter of this year.

Source: United Nations