Gender Training for Police Peacekeepers: Where Are We Now?

Abstract

This article examines gender training of police deployed to UN peace operations. It describes the role of the police component in contemporary peace operations, developments in UN approaches to gender equality and adult learning methods. Comparing gender dimensions in four selected training courses for police peacekeepers, it finds that while important policies, guidelines and training approaches to gender have emerged, the effectiveness of gender training appears to be undermined by failure to make training more fully learner-centred and innovative, the divergence between declared UN values and practice, particularly with regard to gender equality and the prohibition against sexual exploitation and abuse, and weak monitoring and evaluation of training.