Tatiana Kovalchuk: Gender inequality no longer threatens the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs faced an important task — to overcome gender inequality and ensure equal rights for men and women. She said this today, March 15, during the launch of the first Association of Law Enforcement Representatives in Ukraine.
“We have set ourselves the ambitious task of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in law enforcement agencies. And today we can safely declare that gender inequality is a thing of the past. Brick by brick, we are building a wall that will protect against gender inequality,” said Tatiana Kovalchuk.
The Deputy Minister noted that the Association of Law Enforcement Representatives will become a platform where women law enforcement officers can develop their leadership skills, support each other, and promote the implementation of gender-sensitive policies and practices in the relevant structures.
Tatiana Kovalchuk thanked the international partners for their constant and consistent support.
In turn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to Ukraine Roman Vashchuk said that the creation of the Association is a real opportunity to unite men and women who believe in equality.
“Dear representatives of law enforcement agencies, we celebrate an important day — the creation of the Ukrainian Association of Law Enforcement Agencies. The Association is a real union of women and men who believe in equality of rights. It is also evidence of the close cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is reflected in the growth of women in the police. Canada is very happy that we can support this initiative, and we will definitely continue our cooperation,” Roman Vashchuk said.
Recall that in June 2017, the Police Training Assistance Project (PTAP) organized a seminar in Kyiv, during which opportunities and potential paths for professional development and career growth of women in law enforcement agencies of Ukraine were identified. The participants of the seminar agreed to create a working group, which included representatives of various bodies of the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The purpose of the working group is to coordinate the process of creation of the NGO “Ukrainian Association of Law Enforcement Representatives” (UAPPO) and further study the development prospects. Such associations promote the implementation of gender-sensitive policies and practices in relevant structures.
The Police Training Support Project (PTAP) is a three-year project implemented in Ukraine with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada (GAC) in the amount of CAD$6.5 million under the Peacekeeping and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOP) authorized by Agritim Canada Consulting LLC Td.”. The project aims to provide consultancy services and conduct training in order to promote the strengthening of the new National Police of Ukraine (NPU) to implement a police reform strategy that is gender-sensitive, community-oriented and takes into account international standards and the best world experience. The project began in October 2016 and provides support in the development and conduct of specialized training courses for patrol police commanders, bicycle patrol officers and instructors, press service workers, strengthening the mechanisms of police interaction with the community, establishment of the Ukrainian Association of Law Enforcement Representatives, creation of the Patrol Academy police, development of a platform for distance learning, building organizational capacity of NPU.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Photo by Andriy Novitsky
