Colonel Wafaa Muammar is the highest ranking female Police Officer within the Palestinian Civil Police and Head of the Family Protection and Juvenile Unit in the West Bank. Here she describes one of the remarkable developments, the Palestinian Civil Police has undergone:

“Ten years ago, when I was working as Police Officer in Bethlehem, one of the female police advisers from EUPOL COPPS came to speak with us. She listened to us and supported our request for the development of a specialized unit within the police, which could deal with domestic violence. This is how the first Family Protection and Juvenile Unit was established in Bethlehem.

The trial was successful and other Police Districts replicated our work and established similar units. We started as a modest specialised agency with only a few people, dealing with some 35 cases the first year. Today, there are more than 100 trained Police Officers working all around the West Bank and dealing with over 3,500 cases annually. Our work is acknowledged and appreciated by the Palestinian people. All this was possible due to the support received from EUPOL COPPS, from the beginning and until today”.

Top photo: The highest ranking female Police Officer in Palestine, Colonel Wafaa Muammar, Head of the Family Protection and Juvenile Unit in the West Bank.
Bottom photo: In August, Colonel Wafaa Muammar (second from left) met with the Head of Mission, Kauko Aaltomaa (left); Deputy Head of Mission, Dr. Katja Dominik; Senior Police Adviser on Institutional Development and Human Resources, Barbara Kelly (second from right) and the Mission’s Gender Advisor Irina D’Almeida (right). She was accompanied by Colonel Tareq Dawabshah, Deputy Head of the Chief of Police Secretariat and Director of the International Communication and Liaison Unit; Lieutenant Colonel Wafaa Al Hussain, Director of the Gender Unit of the Palestinian Civil Police and Lieutenant Colonel Wafaa Sharqawi from the Planning and Development Section of the Office of the Chief of Police.