Press Conference on United Nations-INTERPOL Agreement to Strengthen

Police Units in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions

 

The recognition that there was a clear link between crime and conflict, and the fact that serious and organized crime was prevalent in many conflict areas was the basis for a new agreement between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to strengthen police units in peacekeeping missions around the world, a senior United Nations security official said today.

At a press conference at Headquarters, Ann-Marie Orler, United Nations Deputy Police Adviser, also underlined the importance of recruiting more female police officers to participate in peacekeeping operations, especially to address issues of sexual violence.  She was joined by Ata Yenigun, Mission Management Coordinator in the Civilian Police Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Ms. Orler said that since the 1997, cooperation agreement between INTERPOL and the United Nations had not kept pace with developments.  With that in mind, during INTERPOL’s annual General Assembly last week in Singapore, the two global organizations had signed a supplementary arrangement, which aimed to enhance policing cooperation in restoring stability in post-conflict areas.  The pact included exchange of information, cooperation in interim law enforcement and security support to national police in post-conflict situations.

She said that some 60 ministers who had attended the General Assembly had adopted a Declaration that called on INTERPOL members to help rebuild national police capacities in post-conflict situations in support of United Nations peace operations, in compliance with human rights principles.  Among other things, the ministers had also pledged to develop guidance for more professional and effective delivery of police assistance, including by the United Nations.

Turning to the issue of female police officers in peacekeeping, Ms. Orler said that in August, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations had launched a global effort to recruit more women to United Nations peacekeeping operations, aiming to raise the number of those officers from the current 8 per cent to 20 per cent by 2014.

The long-term goal was to achieve a 50-50 distribution.  She said the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was encouraging police-contributing Member States to set ‑‑ at a minimum ‑‑ the percentage of female police officers to peacekeeping operations at the same level as the percentage of female officers in their national police.  Describing several activities to achieve those goals, she said that the Government of Bangladesh had offered a female formed police unit consisting of 140 female officers to be deployed in peacekeeping operations.

Responding to correspondents’ questions on how the United Nations went about recruiting police officers from countries with a poor human rights record, Ms. Orler said that currently, the Member States were asked to certify that an applicant police officer had not been involved in any human rights violations.  The United Nations police units assisted countries in building national police services based on human rights, mainly through training and ensuring sanctions on discipline violations in order to combat impunity.  Police officers should also have a sufficient salary so that corruption could be avoided, she added.

Mr. Yenigun added that currently, the United Nations did not carry out the vetting process, but relied in that regard on police-contributing countries.  If there was no local record of human rights violations, there was no proof.  Together with its partners, DPKO was carrying out a study aiming to improve that situation, and whether reports from human rights organizations and media could be included in the vetting mechanism.

Asked about the activities of police officers in peacekeeping missions, and whether the United Nations-INTERPOL agreement on information exchange also addressed such issues as executing INTERPOL arrest warrants, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, Ms. Orler answered that the agreement only covered peacekeeping operations and did not go beyond that.  The operations often had a mandate to build capacity of the national police, which often could be done with the help of INTERPOL’s database and information.  The agreement would be especially useful in addressing the link between organized crime and conflict.

Addressing the issue of opium production could only be carried out if the peacekeeping operation was mandated to do so by the Security Council, she said.  Otherwise, United Nations police officers supported local police capacity in that regard.  She noted that in Afghanistan, there were only eight United Nations police officers in an advisory capacity.  United Nations police officers were involved in capacity-building and training, not in operations.  They would, therefore, not execute INTERPOL or International Criminal Court arrest warrants.

Answering questions about the role of female police officers, she said that in conflict and post-conflict situations, women and children were often the victims of human rights violations committed by men in uniform.  Women in uniform were, therefore, crucial in reaching out and rebuilding the trust of local populations in the police.  It was, therefore, crucial to have more female officers in peacekeeping and peacebuilding.  Because of cultural differences, especially in more traditional societies, it was difficult to recruit police in some countries such as Afghanistan.

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For information media • not an official record