12 Sep 2011 - Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Joseph Mutaboba today inaugurated the country's first model police station, located in the "Bairro Militar" area of the capital, Bissau.

In his statement, the Prime Minister said that this model police station constructed with United Nations Integrated Peace-Building Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) funds will meet human rights international standards in relation with community policing. He stressed that an essential aspect of the model police station is its focus on gender-related policing and the protection of citizens. The station will be staffed with policemen and policewomen, recently trained in capacity-building and policing practices, including techniques aimed at forging more improved relationships with the communities to be served.

Carlos Gomes Junior also commended the cooperation with the United Nations and expressed appreciation of the Government for the financial and technical support provided towards the construction of the model police station. The "Bairro Militar" model police station is part of project plans aimed at the construction of a total of 12 such police stations nationwide in the short to medium term, and this will continue to benefit from the support of the United Nations working in close collaboration with national stakeholders and international partners within the framework of ongoing assistance to Guinea Bissau's reform of the security, defence and justice sector (SSR).

While recalling that Guinea-Bissau SSR should be a national-owned process, SRSG Joseph Mutaboba called on international partners to continue to support the reforms. "The UN is and will continue to be the partner of Guinea-Bissau's Government, institutions and communities. This is a continuous and consistent partnership through political, technical and financial support".

SRSG Mutaboba added that, through its Peacebuilding Comission, the UN will disburse $16.8 million to support not only the construction of police model stations but also courts, a judiciary training center, a mechanism to address drug trafficking and transnational crime and youth and women's employment, among others.

In his latest report on the situation in Guinea-Bissau, the UN Secretary-General stresses that the "construction of model police stations with the provision of equipment and the selection and training of police officers to staff the stations is an essential step in national efforts to restore State authority and re-establish public security conditions for the population, as well as to create a professional community-based police service." "This will help break with past practice of frequent disregard for the rule of law and human rights."