The Police Advisory Unit (PAU)
UNITAMS’s Police Advisory Unit (PAU) provides assistance, advice and capacity building support to the Sudanese law enforcement authorities in the areas of human rights, community policing, international humanitarian law, and the prevention of, and response to, gender-based violence, including sexual violence.
Workshop bringing together local police and representatives from the local community in Darfur. Photo by Owies El Faki, UNITAMS.
Since July 2021, PAU’s activities of capacity building and to provide spaces of dialogue at the community level engaged over 2500 members of the Sudanese Police Force and over 2800 community members primarily in Darfur Region and Khartoum.
PAU has also organized a series of Training of Trainers (ToTs) in collaboration with UNDP for the Sudanese national law enforcement authorities including investigators and prosecutors on investigating sexual gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence. Additionally, PAU facilitated the establishment of two Gender Desks in Central Darfur, charged with facilitating support services to women survivors of sexual gender-based violence and conflict related sexual violence. PAU also supported the recruitment of 170 female police officers out of 574 in South Darfur towards improving the Sudanese security authorities’ response to gender-based violence.
Training workshop by PAU for the Sudanese Police Force on community policing. Photo by Mahmoud Shamrouk, UNITAMS.
In August, PAU, together with UNITAMS’s regional office in Darfur, organized a consultative workshop that brought together 52 participants representing both the community and the local authorities to discuss civilian protection issues including access to justice, enhancing the rule of law and human rights, securing the current farming season, building trust between law enforcement institutions and communities, and response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
“Through such engagements, we hope to provide law enforcement institutions and community members with the knowledge, skill and space that allow for confidence building and enhance a true partnership among them to ensure sustainable peace and stability,” said Liu Cao, a Police Advisor in UNITAMS.
Dialogue between local community and local authorities on protection of civilians issues in El Fasher, North Darfur. Photos by: Owies El Faki, UNITAMS