POLICY BRIEF 2014:2 Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping – Framing the Framework

The research seminar on Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping (SGF)—Framing the Framework set out the UN Police Policy and guidance development process in the wider context of multi-dimensional integrated peace operations and rule of law and peacebuilding tasks. The research seminar was held in Oslo on 18 March 2014 and was hosted by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) as a Partner of the Challenges Forum in association with the UN Police Division.

The Challenges Forum research seminar on Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping: Framing the Framework took place at an important point of time in the development of UN police peacekeeping guidance. In development since 2009, with feedback provided through a comprehensive consultative process open to all 193 UN Member States and involving five regional meetings, the DPKO/DFS Policy on United Nations Police2 in Peacekeeping Operations and Special Political Missions (UN Police Policy) was approved and took effect in February 2014. This document set the scene and the agenda for the discussions at the Oslo joint event, as the overarching policy document that henceforth governs UN police peacekeeping.

The Oslo meetings marked the first event in a multi-year doctrinal process which will see the development of a cascading architecture of guidance composed of policy documents, thematic guidance, technical manuals and training materials. As noted by Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary- General for the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions in DPKO, a new era in police peacekeeping has commenced through the Strategic Guidance Framework for International Police Peacekeeping (SGF) and the development of a common reference framework for United Nations Police (UNPOL) officers in four core areas of UN policing; namely:

• Police Command;
• Police Operations;
• Police Administration; and
• Police Capacity-Building and Development.

This constitutes a vital step towards improving performance of UN police officers through the articulation of a clear and crystalized vision of what UN policing wants to achieve on the ground, how it needs to be done as well as a common professional language.