NEW YORK, 18 May 2007 The Philippines is now the No. 1 contributor of individual police officers to United Nations peacekeeping operations, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said today.
The Philippine Mission, citing statistics from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), said that the Philippines emerged last week as the main provider of police officers with 288 individual officers from the Philippine National Police (PNP) deployed in seven UN peacekeeping missions around the world.
“The Filipino police peacekeeper is doing our country proud by helping restore peace and rebuild lives in places as near as Timor Leste and as far as Sudan,” Ambassador Hilario G, Davide Jr., Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said in his report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo.
Aside from the Philippines, the others in the list of the top 10 contributors of civilian police officers are the United States (284); Turkey (275); Germany (230); Cameroon (167); Niger (165); France (159); Ghana (144); Zimbabwe (121); and Burkina Faso (120). The figures cover individual police officers and do not include police officers belonging to so called Formed Police Units.
“The Philippines climbed to the top position as a result of Manila’s positive response to the calls of the UN for Member-States to contribute personnel in view of the unprecedented surge in the demand for peacekeepers worldwide,” Ambassador Davide said, as he cited the cooperation of the PNP led by Director General Oscar Calderon.
“It is also an indication of the high regard of the UN for Philippine police officers who have proven their professionalism and competence in the various UN field missions as well as in the UN Headquarters where three PNP officers have been seconded,” he added.
The bulk of the Philippine police officers (145) are deployed with the UN Integrated Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT) where former PNP Director Rodolfo Tor is presently the Police Commissioner. The rest are deployed in Kosovo (44); Sudan (39); Liberia (34); Haiti (19); Cote d’ Ivoire (6); and Afghanistan (1).
Ambassador Davide expressed confidence that the Philippines will remain on the No. 1 spot especially with the commitment expressed early this year by Secretary Romulo to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for the Philippines to further enhance and expand its participation in UN peacekeeping operations. END
