Proud of disciplined service: India police contingent in Haiti

The Indian contingent deployed with UN justice support mission in Haiti is returning home with a sense of "pride" of having served with discipline and without any cases of human rights violations or allegations of sexual abuse against it, said one of the contingent commander.

Currently, two Indian Formed Police Units (FPUs), comprising 140 police personnel each, are deployed with the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH). With operations at the mission set to drawdown by October 2019, one Indian Formed Police Unit will soon return home while the other is slated to depart by October next year.

"We have a specific mandate in which we have been given the task to assist the Haitian National Police. We have worked very sincerely and with discipline. I can say with pride that for the last 10 years that the Indian peacekeepers and police personnel were here, there have been no cases of indiscipline, human rights violations nor any allegation of sexual exploitation and abuse (against us). We feel proud of that," Commandant Dhananjay Shukla, Contingent Commander of Indian FPU 1 told PTI in an exclusive interview through video call from Haiti.

"Ten years is not a short period. We have carried out our work sincerely, meeting the expectations of Indian and UN authorities. We feel we have won the hearts of the Haitian people," he said.

Accompanied with Inspector Navin Kumar Singh, who is the Section Commander, Sub-Inspector Vivek Kumar Pandey, the Team leader of the Unit and UN Police Commissioner Serge Therriault, Shukla said the Indian contingents deployed with the mission in Haiti, have over the years ably met the expectations of the UN as well as the local authorities.

He said Indian police personnel in the mission are regularly briefed about discipline and the honourable conduct expected from them.

"The Indian FPU 1 has come from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). We have a culture in which there is respect for women," he said.

Describing the Haitian people as very friendly, Singh said the Indian peacekeepers and police personnel have always helped and supported them.

"We have been able to show them that we support them in their development and progress. We are here to assist the Haitian police maintain law and order and this will instill a sense of confidence in the Haitians that they are not alone, the world is behind them."