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Security Sector Reform (SSR) at the United Nations
What is SSR
Armed forces, police, border guards, and other security institutions: elemental for security, sustaining peace and development. They stabilize, protect, and provide relief. But when poorly regulated, unaccountable, or sourced for political gain, the security sector becomes a liability instead of a force for good.
Security sector reform is the work undertaken by a government and its people to make the country's security institutions serve its citizens and provide people-centered security. Accountable institutions that contribute to the rule of law, improve lives and livelihoods for all.
What We Do
Providing genuine security to any population is a meaningful assignment, central to the United Nations Charter. The United Nations supports nationally led security sector reform. Our goal is to help states and societies develop effective, inclusive, and accountable security institutions that contribute to national and international security and sustainable development.
What's Happening
Policy Brief "Sharing Authority, Legitimacy, Capacity: Informal Security Providers"
Read our newest publication in our series of nine Policy Briefs on Good Governance in National Security: "Sharing Authority, Legitimacy, Capacity: Informal Security Providers" examines the critical role of informal security providers in shaping hybrid security systems and governance. It highlights how formal and informal actors intersect to influence decision-making, resource allocation, and accountability within security sectors – particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Drawing on case studies and literature, the brief underscores the need for nuanced approaches to Security Sector Reform (SSR) that integrate informal networks while safeguarding human rights and inclusion. This policy brief was authored by the African Security Sector Network (ASSN).
Statement from the Co-chairs of the Group of Friends of Security Sector Reform on the 22 October 2025 Meeting of the Group of Friends
On Wednesday 22 October 2025, the United Nations Group of Friends of Security Sector Reform (SSR) met at an Ambassadorial-level to discuss the future of United Nations support to SSR. Please find the statement from the co-chairs here.
CROSSROADS Practical Guidance
Read our newly released CROSSROADS Module 10.7 Transnational Organized Crime and SSR. Jointly developed with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), this module dives into how TOC threats to peace, security, and development, and how Security Sector Reform can help.
Voices on SSR and Peacekeeping: Run-up to the 2025 Peacekeeping Ministerial
In light of the 2025 Berlin United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial (United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 | United Nations Peacekeeping), we are sharing a few voices on how SSR makes peacekeeping more effective and safer.