Thursday, Michel-Ange Gédéon the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), along with Dede Ekoue Representative of UN-Women in Haiti and the former Minister for the Status of Women Marie Laurence Lassèque, participated in the 1st conference on strengthening and participation of women in the national police. This joint initiative of the National Coordination of Women's Affairs and the Women's Network of the PNH, aims to promote a greater presence of women in this institution at all levels and in all departments of the country.

In his speech, Michel-Ange Gédéon in front of policewomen, members of the PNH and many authorities reaffirmed the commitment of police institution to focus on strengthening the capacity of women police officers claiming "[...] this initiative meets the strong will of the High Command of the PNH under my leadership to promote women and especially the quota of 30% expressed in the constitution amended in Article 17.1 [...]"

Regarding the situation of women in the police force Gédéon said "[...] Without much detail, I will tell you that we have made progress, but we want more. Today we have 1,483 women in the PNH, a rate of about 10%. So we have made progress, but progress has been made timid by our taboos and the patriarchal system of our society. Today, it is necessary above all else to strengthen their capacities at all levels... we will continue to work for our numbers to increase significantly. We want to prove it : in the 29th class, we had about 30% of women and for the 30th, almost 20% [...]

"[...] It has happened to us as a Nation to miss important events in history [...] I want to believe that the women's empowerment test will be our last exercise at the school of the year and time history for us to be allowed or not to use the highway of modernity. Suffice to say, under no circumstances taht we cannot miss such an appointment."

HL/ HaitiLibre