Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping

On 18 March a Challenges Forum Research Seminar took place in Oslo, hosted by Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in association with UN Police Division. It examined the evolution on UN police peacekeeping; transnational organized crime and strategic perspectives on police capacity-building. Partly integrated, a three day thematic meeting on Police Capacity-building and Development followed the seminar, as part of the Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping (SGF) process led by the UN Police Division.

The Research Seminar aimed to consider UNPOL activities in a wider peace operations context. The event, which is an implementation of the Challenges Forum Partnership decision to support the SGF process, enabled Challenges Forum Partners to engage with researchers and experts in discussing the integrated role of UNPOL in peacekeeping. General peace operations experts and police experts were invited to discuss the evolving role of international police in peace operations, its role in relation to transnational organized crime and strategic aspects of capacity-building and development of local police in fragile states. The seminar took place prior to a thematic meeting on police capacity-building and development, hosted by UN Police Division and NUPI in association with Challenges Forum, which is another installment in the UN process to establish a Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping.

The aim of the Thematic Meeting was to establish a solid foundation for guidelines to police peacekeepers how to conduct capacity-building of police in fragile states. The meeting, concluding on 21 March, was hosted by NUPI, UN Police Division in association with Challenges Forum, and attended by representatives from more than 55 UN Member States and organizations such as African Union, European Union and Interpol in addition to several UN agencies.