Publication

Police and other personnel who support the rule of law play a vital and expanding role in United Nations peace operations. Their responsibilities have grown from merely monitoring host state police forces to reforming, restructuring, and rebuilding police forces decimated or discredited by war. Where no effective local police capacity exists, UN police have assumed primary responsibility for maintaining law and order. Yet the current system for recruiting and deploying individual police for service in UN missions consistently fails to deliver high quality personnel to missions quickly and efficiently. Resolving this long-standing problem is an increasingly urgent priority for the United Nations. This report offers potential solutions to it that are both feasible and affordable.