New York – The United Nations has announced that Police First Sergeant Renita Rismayanti, of Indonesia, will receive the 2023 United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year Award on 16 November 2023.

The award will be presented during the annual United Nations Police Week, taking place at United Nations Headquarters from 13 to 17 November.

Police First Sergeant Rismayanti serves as a Crime Database Officer with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). In this role, she has helped conceptualize and develop a criminal database that enables UN Police to map and analyse crime and disorder hotspots which, in turn, helps the country’s security forces to better plan their operations in support of the local population. 

“Police First Sergeant Rismayanti’s innovation and efforts to leverage data within United Nations peacekeeping and the Central African Republic police has made a significant contribution to enhancing security for vulnerable communities, including women and girls,” said Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. 

“She serves as a great example of how the participation and leadership of women in peacekeeping improve the effectiveness of our protection and peacebuilding work to better meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

Police First Sergeant Rismayanti says she feels fortunate to be able to use her technological skills to improve security for people across the Central African Republic. “I hope the visibility that comes from winning this award will reinforce among women and girls that all fields of expertise in policing are open to us.”

At 27 years of age, she is the youngest-ever United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year. 

She began her career with the Indonesian National Police as a public information officer in 2014 and has also worked in training, administration, and logistics.

“Having accomplished so much by embracing technology in a traditionally male-dominated field, Police First Sergeant Rismayanti represents the future of United Nations policing,” said United Nations Police Adviser Faisal Shahkar. 

“She and her colleagues are helping to build trust and confidence between local authorities and communities, which makes the work of the United Nations Police more effective and people safer.”

The United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year award was established in 2011 to recognize the exceptional contributions of women police officers to UN peace operations and to promote women’s empowerment.

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Note to the editors:
The award will be presented during Police Week, the annual gathering of heads of United Nations police components from peacekeeping operations, special political missions and other offices, and includes interactive engagements with United Nations senior leadership and briefings to the United Nations Security Council and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations of the General Assembly.

About 10,000 United Nations Police are authorized to serve in 16 United Nations peace operations, where they work to enhance international peace and security by supporting host countries in conflict, post-conflict, and other crisis situations. 

Women’s participation in United Nations Police has doubled since 2015. As of today, the United Nations Police have exceeded all the 2023 targets set out in the Department’s Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy. And in two of four categories of personnel, the United Nations Police has already surpassed the 2028 target. As of September 2023, women police officers make up 43.1% of contracted professional officers in the United Nations Headquarters, 24.6% of contracted professional officers in the field, 31.8% of individual police officers and 15.6% of members of Formed Police Units. Women also occupy six out of 13 positions (i.e., 46.2%) as heads or deputy heads of police in Mali, Cyprus, Kosovo South Sudan Abyei.