Hanen Boukthir
United Nations Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers Nominee
Dynamic, innovative, enthusiastic and calm in the face of danger — that’s how Hanen Boukthir is described by her colleagues at the Bambari field office in the Central African Republic (CAR). Hanen is the Deputy Team Leader of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINSUCA) Justice and Corrections Team in Bambari. Impressed by Hanen’s trailblazing qualities, seventeen colleagues from over thirteen nationalities joined forces to collectively nominate their peer for the United Nations Trailblazer Award.
Before joining MINUSCA, Hanen worked as a corrections officer in Tunisia. She quickly gained her peers’ respect through her professional work mentality, courage and devotion to the MINUSCA mandate. Her leadership qualities have come to the fore during challenging times in CAR, such as during CAR’s election period in 2020 and 2021, or during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when she was relentlessly present in the mission. Hanen provides mentoring and advisory support to the CAR prison administration, advocates for support to Bambari prison with national and international NGOs, United Nations agencies and local authorities and raises awareness on gender-based violence in corrections.
A highlight of her work has been the fruitful coordination with the Association for Central African Women Leaders from which detainees in Bambari have greatly benefitted through social reintegration programmes. In a memorable case, Hanen identified a detainee’s skillset to produce and decorate textiles and provided her with the necessary tools and partners to commercialise her products. Hanen enabled the detainee to pursue this path during her detention which contributed positively to her economic reintegration into the community after her release from prison.
Government-Provided Personnel
GPP are individuals like Hanen who are nominated by their governments to serve with United Nations peace operations. Justice and corrections GPP provide expertise that is generally only found in national government services, such as national prison services, the judiciary and prosecution authorities. Hanen is one of the 108 GPP in MINUSCA who provide advisory, capacity-building and operational prison security support to national counterparts.
United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic
MINUSCA is one of the twelve current UN peacekeeping operations. Established by the Security Council in April 2014, MINUSCA is mandated to protect civilians and create conditions conducive to national reconciliation and durable peace in Central African Republic (CAR), where over 63 per cent of the population (more than 3.1 million Central Africans) require protection and humanitarian assistance.
The MINUSCA corrections component is mandated to support the CAR authorities in the fight against impunity, and the establishment and reinforcement of a new national prison service. This includes the recruitment, training and capacity-building of national corrections officers, as well as improving prison management, security, and conditions according to international norms and standards.
United Nations Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers
The first United Nations Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers recognizes the outstanding contributions of government-provided personnel in United Nations peace operations by highlighting women who blaze the trail in areas and roles traditionally reserved for men.
You can follow the entire campaign on the United Nations Office of Rule of Law Facebook page or the Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law Alexandre Zouev’s Twitter page.
To learn more about the award, click here.
