Civilian police play a vital role in improving peace and security in United Nations’ peacekeeping missions in different states 1 . Globally, the International Police Task Force (IPTF) has the jurisdiction to manage and support local police or sometimes substitute them if rendered incapable of maintaining peace and order 2 .ITPF and the UN have collaborated in different states around the world to ensure peace and security is achieved. For instance, in December 1995, the duo combined forces to form the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) 3 . Approximately one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one police already serve the UNMIBH in Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 . The obligation of UNMIBH in Bosnia and Herzegovina was to ensure law and order was established through aiding the local police reforms, evaluating the efficiency of the existing judicial structure, and examining and reviewing the police’ execution of their tasks 5 . This paper evaluates how efficient the international civilian police are in the accomplishment of their overall roles, chores, and tasks at the micro, meso, and macro levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Micro-level
The problem
The main issue that the mission aimed at addressing at the micro level was to amend center of attention of the local law enforcement from the state security to individual safety 6 . Thus the IPTF needed to train and supervise the local paramilitary police. According to the United Nations, the police discriminated, harassed, and intimidated civilians on ethnicity grounds more so during the clashes brought about by ethnic divisions 7 . At the same time, the police used checkpoints to confine civilians from freely moving at the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. Also, the police force experienced extreme instances of corruption and political interference 8 . Therefore, the stepping in of UNMIBH was necessary to ensure essential reforms and appropriate restructuring took place 9 .
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The plan
To ensure that the police were reformed and restructured, the IPTF started by evaluating whether the host-police force was acting in accordance to the globally set principles of professionalism as well as honesty 10 . To ensure that the local police were compliant, the IPTF started performing far-reaching background verifications on the local police. At the same time, the IPTF erected data registration and storage banks that stored the wide-ranging information gathered. Afterward, authentication of those who met the standards was conducted whereas those found to lack necessary skills were dropped from the force 11 . In fact, the process of auditing and monitoring of the police officers took place after they received rigorous mandatory training 12 . The training was conducted at Sarajevo and Banja Luka police academies 13 .
Effectiveness
In spite of facing ridicule and extensive abuses from the host-police force, the two thousand UNMIBH officers improved the stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 14 Out of the 44000 security personnel, 23751 were registered with the information bank, and 15 786 were authenticated and granted a certificate to continue serving 15 . Additionally, the police training academies offered training to nine hundred and thirty-five cadets. At the same time, an improvement of marginalized representation in police administrations and female police were recruitment was noted. In fact, four hundred and fifty female were hired, and one hundred and seventy more were under guidance 16 .
Meso-level
The problem
The organizational level or the meso level also required looking into to guarantee answerability and delegitimize. At the same time, necessary guidelines needed to be established to put off the vice of corruption and make sure there were no human rights breaches. Similarly, the political sway and law enforcement cooperation would require to be addressed. One of the operations duped “Operation Transparency,” showed that there were little integration and unification of the different organizational structures. Particularly, in the Federation, the replacement of parallel policing to a single uniform policing unit that is multi-ethnic was necessary. On the other hand, the Republic Srpska required an improvement in both transparency and increase of ethnic representatives so as to increase answerability 17 .
The plan
In order to ensure effective restructuring, IPTF sought to develop the resource sufficiency in police administrations. Additionally, IPTF sought after increasing competence of the organizational arrangement, and balance in both ethnic and gender dimensions 18 . Independent commissioners and directors of the police were chosen, 19 so as to control politics from interfering with the police administration. The reforms laid down in both selecting and registering at the individual level offered insight to improving individual; officers and promoting equality at the organizational level. For instance, equity is well shown in the hiring and training of the marginalized and the female gender 20 . Furthermore, more than eight hundred new vacancies were established by the IPTF in both the Federation and The Republic Srpska ministries 21 . The strategy entailed the partnering between local high-ranking law enforcers and IPTF observers in monitoring at the meso level. Moreover, weapon assessment strategies were undertaken to determine whether the law enforcement personnel maintained weapons proportional to their tasks. The weapons inventory strategy stipulated that for each ten law enforcers, they required only a single long-barreled rifle. Additionally, each officer required a single sidearm to execute his or her job 22 . Any insufficiency was documented in a performance report and was to be addressed in training or another form of assistance 23 . Consequently, any law enforcer found to violate or fail to execute his duty according to the set law and regulation was subject to disciplinary actions and scrutiny by the IPTF 24 .
Effectiveness
Co-location of independent commissioners and directors of police discouraged the political influence 25 . Through immense pressure, the IPTF was able to break numerous national blockades of power by integration of police services. At the time, integration of independent commissioners and directors of police eliminated the lack of transparency and reduced the levels of corruption through rigorous monitoring. Additionally, the peacekeeping force was able to educate the public criminal procedures. Moreover, by collaborating with Criminal Justice Advisory Unit, IPTF was able to educate the produce high-quality reports in the legal system. Similarly, the IPTF helped foster cooperation between the states’ law enforcement personnel and the criminal justice system 26 .
Macro-level
The problem
Statewide, there was a necessity to improve the safety measures. In fact, for a well established and effective Macro-level security, there was a need for cooperation between law enforcement personnel to reduce crime. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were security loopholes such as organized crime, drug abuse, and terror attacks. Additionally, there was a lack of a framework to manage refugee returns, management of the public crisis, smuggling, and detection of financial crimes 27 .
The plan
The UNMIBH focus was to establish a statewide security institution called State Border Service 28 . The mandate of the State Border Service was to improve the security at the national level. Additionally, UNMIBH helped establish a State Information and Protection Agency whose role was to centralize information collection, analysis, and distribution 29 . At the same instance, the UNMIBH improved security for VIPs. For well established statewide police collaboration, UNMIBH assisted in establishing two major meetings, the Ministerial Consultative Meeting on Police Matters and the Joint Task Force and the Committee of Ministers and Regional Task Force 30 . Moreover, at Sarajevo, a new INTERPOL post was erected to supplement the local law enforcement in curbing international crimes. To prevent the menace of human trafficking, the UNMIBH formed a prevention taskforce called Special Trafficking Operations Program (S.T.O.P). The local people manned the task force roles although an oversight team from IPTF was played a role in monitoring the functioning of the task force 31 . Additionally, to amend the lost trust and confidence in institutions, intensive awareness campaigns were conducted to enlighten the public of the new measures laid down to stop corruption and abusive nature of the police personnel. On the other hand, the public was also educated of the committees and task forces such as State Border Service via radios, newspapers and the UNMIBH website. Intensive multi-ethnic hiring supplemented the campaigns 32 . Moreover, the UNMIBH tried to foster collaboration among the civilian police and the armed forces through organizing the duo’s participation in the UN peacekeeping mission. Also, the two groups deployed for missions consisted of individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Effectiveness
Thorough training for quality upgrading was attained at every level except the police administration. Additionally, a police court capturing all ethnic backgrounds underwent a successful training and deployment in the Federation and the Republic Srpska 33 . Amongst other achievements, the State Border Service was able to achieve total coverage of the territory, took control of three major airports, and seized goods that accrued approximately over a million dollars for the Treasury. Moreover, S.T.O.P played a significant role in curbing human trafficking. Particularly, eight hundred raids were conducted under the monitoring of the IPTF. Also, 151 of 240 trafficking establishments were shut down, 264 trafficking victims were repatriated, and safe houses were established with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Public confidence was also enhanced through the campaigns and police supported awareness events 34 . Additionally, all national and regional police forums were relocated to local management 35 . Furthermore, IPTF played a major role in returning of over a million dislocated people to their homes 36 .
Conclusion
It is no doubt that the IPTF played a significant role in Bosnia and Herzegovina by establishing reforms, new structures, assessment, monitoring, and auditing, of law enforcement. Also, by using individuals of diverse ethnicity, the UNMIBH portrayed the efficacy of the IPTF. Moreover, by offering certification of law enforcement personnel and accrediting of institution s concerned with training the police, the IPTF achieved a milestone 37 . Overall, the IPTF laid the foundation of a more democratic and transparent form of law enforcement free from political influence and bureaucracy of local police. The IPTF mandate was achieved, and now the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) has to ensure the measures blossom 38 .
Bibliography
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1 "United Nations Police", Police.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://police.un.org/en.
2 Ibid.
3 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html.
4 Ibid.
5 Duncan Chappell and John Evans, "The Role, Preparation And Performance Of Civilian Police In United Nations Peacekeeping Operations", Commonwealth Law Bulletin 24, no. 3-4 (1998): 1248-1316
6 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Graham Day, "The Training Dimension Of The UN Mission In Bosnia And Herzegovina (UNMIBH)", International Peacekeeping 7, no. 2 (2000): 155-168, doi:10.1080/13533310008413840.
10 Garth den Heyer, The Role Of Civilian Police In Peacekeeping repr., Washington: Police Foundation, 2012.:31-46
11 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
12 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Garth den Heyer, The Role Of Civilian Police In Peacekeeping repr., Washington: Police Foundation, 2012.:33
18 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Garth den Heyer, The Role Of Civilian Police In Peacekeeping repr., Washington: Police Foundation, 2012.:36
22 "United Nations Official Document", Un.Org, Last modified 2018, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/1997/966.:3
23 Garth den Heyer, The Role Of Civilian Police In Peacekeeping repr., Washington: Police Foundation, 2012.:38
24 Garth den Heyer, The Role Of Civilian Police In Peacekeeping repr., Washington: Police Foundation, 2012.:38
25 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
26 Ibid.
27 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
28 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
34 Gerald Witherspoon, "Effectiveness Of The International Civilian Police In The UNMIBH", Online Journal Of International Relations 2014, Last modified 2015, https://geraldfwitherspoonsr.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/effectiveness-of-the-international-civilian-police-in-the-unmibh/.
35 "UNMIBH: United Nations Mission In Bosnia Herzegovina - Background", Peacekeeping.Un.Org, Last modified 2018, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unmibh/background.html
36 Dominique Wisler, "The International Civilian Police Mission In Bosnia And Herzegovina: From Democratization To Nation‐Building", Police Practice And Research 8, no. 3 (2007): 253-268, doi:10.1080/15614260701450732.
37 "United Nations Official Document", Un.Org, Last modified 2018, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/1997/966.:2
38 Dusko Vejnovic and Velibor Lalic, "Community Policing In A Changing World: A Case Study Of Bosnia And Herzegovina", Police Practice And Research 6, no. 4 (2005): 363-373, doi:10.1080/15614260500293994.
