Page 12 - IB December 2021

Pacific Person Of The Year Pacific Person Of The Year

BREAKING GLASS CEILINGS

UNAISI VUNIWAQA

By Samisoni Pareti Nations joint military and police peace-keeping operation.
UNMISS happens to be the UN’s largest ever peacekeeping
“As I look back on my life, I realise that every time I operations in modern history.
thought I was being rejected from something good, I was ac- Vuniwaqa entered UN peacekeeping after realising she had
tually being re-directed to something better,” Unaisi Bolatolu hit the glass ceiling at home and would not rise higher than
Vuniwaqa posted on her LinkedIn account in December 2020. the Assistant Commissioner of Police role she held.
“Absolutely, I’ve learnt to accept rejection as better op- “I was looking for a lateral exit and always had my eye on
portunities awaits,” she continued. UN Peacekeeping since I had never served in a peace opera-
From the day she won the Baton of Honour award at her tion before,” she told UNMISS communications earlier this
1986 graduation as a police constable in Suva, Vuniwaqa was year. “I first came to UNMISS as an Individual Police Officer; it
destined for greater things. was a big gamble to take a step down from the Assistant Com-
Her career has taken her from appointment as Commis- missioner level, but I learnt everything from the ground up—I
sioner and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan did night shifts, went on patrol, handled access duties. And
(UNMISS) to a new UN role in New York. then, I built myself up again and here I am, leading a massive,
In so doing, Vuniwaqa became the first female head of UN- diverse, multicultural team of committed police officers. The
MISS, and the first Fijian – female or male—to head a United risk paid off!”

12 Islands Business, December 2021