The United Nations Department of Peace Operations announced that Major Ahlem Douzi, serving as a justice officer with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), will receive the second Prize pioneer of the United Nations for women experts in judicial and penitentiary matters.
The award will be presented on Tuesday, May 7 at UN Headquarters in New York by the Chief of Staff of the Secretary-General, Courtenay Rattray. The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and the Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous, will also speak.
Major Ahlem Douzi is an expert in military weapons and ammunition within the MONUSCO legal prosecution support cells. She is one of the first peacekeepers deployed within the Mission to have expertise in forensic analysis and ballistics of all types. She provides expert advice to Congolese investigators as well as UN investigators for the collection, preservation and preparation of evidence during trials.
Major Ahlem Douzi expressed her gratitude: “As a Tunisian military officer, I am deeply honored and grateful to receive this award for female officers specializing in justice and corrections in peace operations. Working as a woman in a male-dominated field certainly presents challenges. However, I see this as an opportunity to break down gender barriers and pave the way for other women who aspire to careers in similar professions.”
Major Douzi was deployed to MONUSCO in May 2021 and is based in Goma, North Kivu province. She led a series of unprecedented technical investigations into serious crimes and attacks against civilians and peacekeepers, which laid the groundwork for holding perpetrators accountable.
Its technical support, expert advice, and technical capacity building and outreach activities contribute to the mission’s mandate: to assist judicial and military authorities in investigating and responding to crimes against humanity and war crimes. sue the perpetrators.
“Major Douzi has indeed blazed a trail. She continues to oversee numerous technical investigations that have never been conducted by the mission before.
His service and dedication demonstrate that United Nations personnel can successfully serve local communities and provide specialized expertise and support to national authorities when requested,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
“Female justice and corrections officers are living examples of the importance of having competent women serving visibly in male-dominated spheres,” Ms. Bahous said. “Through their work, women and girls can see that the United Nations represents and serves them, and they understand that they too can aspire to careers that contribute to peace and justice.”
The Pioneer Award is an initiative created in 2022 by the Judicial and Prison Affairs Department of the Office of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI). This initiative recognizes the exceptional contributions of women justice and corrections experts deployed as government-provided personnel in UN peace operations and challenges gender stereotypes and barriers by highlighting their achievements.
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