UN Police in Action
"Police peacekeeping remains an area of exponential growth for the UN. Today we have over 11,500 male and female police peacekeepers in the field. This could swell to 15-16,000 by the end of 2009, as the United Nations Mission in Darfur reaches its full strength. But it’s not just about numbers. Police peacekeepers are now tasked with a wide array of responsibilities, including executive policing, close operational support, police reform and capacity building. Never has the international demand for qualified and experienced police officers been greater – or the challenges as daunting.”
Andrew Hughes, Commissioner
UN Police Adviser 2007 – 2009
Creation of the Police Division
In the mid-1990s a Police Adviser was appointed to advise the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on police-related matters. The Secretary-General's Bulletin on the Functions and organisation of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, dated 15 May 2000
[ST/SGB/2000/9], established a Civilian Police Unit as part of the Department's Military and Civilian Police Division.
Sustainable Peace through Justice and Security
 Shields used by Pakistani FPU in UNOCI, Cote d'Ivoire. In 2000 the United Nations Panel on Peace Operations, under the chairmanship of Lakhtar Brahimi, issued its landmark report on improving United Nations peacekeeping operations. The Panel called for, among other things, a ‘doctrinal shift’ in the use of police and other rule of law elements to support a greater focus on reform and restructuring activities. The report also recommended adoption of a ‘team approach,' whereby adequately resourced police work together with their justice, corrections and other rule of law colleagues in a highly coordinated and integrated manner. This same year the Police Division was created.
Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions
In 2007 the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI) was established on the basis of this and subsequent reports of the Secretary-General and General Assembly. This Office brings together the police, justice, corrections, mine action, security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration staff under one umbrella to work on these key issues as a team.
 UN and National Police plan an anti-drug operation in Haiti.
MINUSTAH Photo/Marco Dormino
This has led to improvements in areas of integrated planning, joint assessments and cross-cutting guidance development in peace operations and has helped the Department of Peacekeeping Operations respond to the current unprecedented growth in scale and complexity of United Nations Policing. UN Police are called upon to carry out a series of complex and sensitive tasks including training host-state police services to perform the full range of police duties professionally and efficiently, including conducting investigations and carrying out arrests.
Timeline of UN Policing
| Date |
UN Policing Event |
| |
|
| 1960 |
The first police officers are deployed with the UN Operation in Congo (ONUC).
|
| 1964 |
The first formal police component is deployed to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). |
| 1989 |
The end of the Cold War ushers in a new generation of UN peacekeeping, beginning with deployment in Namibia with the UN Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG). Mandates quickly expand in the early 1990s, ranging from police reform in El Salvador and Mozambique to a broad mandate in Cambodia. |
| 1994 |
1,677 UN civilian police officers are deployed in peacekeeping missions. |
| 1995 |
UN Police become an increasingly important element of UN peacekeeping. In December, a police component is added as a strategic choice rather than an add-on to military observers, in the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH). Promoting the rule of law and reforming police services in conflict areas is recognised as a central tool for helping war-torn societies recover from conflict. |
| 1999 |
UN Police deployed to the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) are tasked with the full spectrum of law enforcement for the first time, as well as building a brand new police service. UNMIK includes the first Formed Police Unit in a UN mission, called the Specialised Police Unit (SPU) and, at its peak in 2001, included 3,300 police officers from 50 countries. In cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), over 8,000 police officers are recruited and trained to form the Kosovo Police Service (KPS). |
| 2000 |
5,840 UN Police Officers are deployed in peacekeeping missions. |
| 2006 |
The UN Standing Police Capacity is formally established. More than 8,200 UN Police from 92 countries are deployed in 17 missions globally. |
| 2007 |
In January, the first all-female Formed Police Unit is deployed from India to the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). In July, 6,400 police officers are authorized for the African Union / United Nations Hybrid Operations in Darfur (UNAMID), of which 2,936 are deployed by June 2009. In November, the Standing Police Capacity establishes the police component of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). |
| 2009 |
11,000 UN Police Officers (8% women) from 100 countries are deployed in 18 missions. |
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