Awareness-raising event on ethics and integrity for the National Gendarmerie Academy
Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), 28-29 July 2022 – Law enforcement authorities play an essential role in ensuring the safety of citizens and, as the main actors responsible for the detection of crime and illicit trafficking, they are an important link in the fight against corruption. However, the prevalence of corruption risks within these institutions poses a threat to their effectiveness and legitimacy through decreased trust in state and security actors within the population.
In this context ,UNODC Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés, asserted that: “Corruption within the law enforcement and the consequent undermining of the rule of law weaken the already tenuous confidence many citizens of the Sahel region have in their governments.”
Hence, it is fundamental to strengthen the integrity of future law enforcement officers in order to ensure respect of the rule of law and to guarantee peace and security. Even more so in the Sahel region, where the complexity of the current security challenges requires strong and effective state responses and institutions.
In this regard, and in partnership with the Superior Authority for State Control and the Fight against Corruption (Autorité Supérieure de Contrôle d’État et de Lutte contre la Corruption, ASCE-LC) and the National Coordination of Police Forces Control (Coordination Nationale de Contrôle des Forces de Police, CONACFP), UNODC gathered over 600 students from the National Gendarmerie Academy in Bobo-Dioulasso for an awareness-raising workshop on 28-29 July 2022.
The activity was conducted by the Young Unitarians of Burkina Faso Network (Réseau des Jeunes Unitariens du Burkina Faso) within the framework of the Sahel Programme, and more specifically as part of the implementation of Phase II of UNODC’s “Strategic support project for Security Sector Reform in Burkina Faso”, with the financial support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and the Peacebuilding Fund. The session aimed at fostering a culture of integrity amongst future law enforcement officers in Burkina Faso and was further delivered in the margins of the International Anti-Corruption Day 2021 held under the theme: “Your right, your role: say no to corruption”, despite the delay accumulated due to the recent political situation in the country.
