Bangladesh Police in the UN Peacekeeping Missions

by Razzak Raza
May 14, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/721/bangladesh-police-in-the-un-peacekeeping-missions

To monitor the implementation of the Arab-Israel Peace Treaty, the United Nations deployed their first sets of Peacekeepers at Seni peninsula in 1948. Since then the United Nations conducted 63 peacekeeping missions across the globe and among them 18 missions are still in operation. International peacekeeping engages a huge number of human and logistic resources in the mission areas. As of 28 February 2010, 115 coun­tries contributed military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping. During the 60 years' of history, 80,000 members of the armed forces and 13,000 members of the civilian police services took part in the UN peacekeeping Operations. Besides this, 5,800 international civilian employees, moreover 14 thousand local civilian staff and 2,400 volunteers from over 160 nations were engaged in the Peacekeeping activities.

The UN has no full time regular uniformed army or police forces to be deployed in the mission areas. The member states supply their own forces while needed. During the cold war era, member countries from Europe, America and Australia were the prime suppliers of uniformed persons in the peacekeeping operations. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the first world countries lost their enthusiasm to send people in the peacekeeping missions. The developing countries from Asia and Africa instantly came forward to fill up the gap. Today, South Asian countries, like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal and African countries, like Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, etc. supply the lion share of the uniformed personnel in the UN peacekeeping missions.

Initially, only the members of the armed forces were deployed in the peacekeeping operations. It is because, at that time the responsibilities of the peacekeepers were confined simply to monitor the implementation of the peace treaty, disarmament and reporting. The peacekeeping operations continued for 16 years without the participation of police officers. The first police officers were deployed with the UN Operation in Congo (ONUC) in 1964.

Soon the mandate of the peacekeeping operations was extended toward various dimensions. Reforming, reconstructing, restructuring and redefining of the civil administration and many other post-conflicting activities were included in the peacekeeping operations, and, necessarily the police and other civilian experts were recruited for the missions. Now 11,000 UN Police officers from 100 countries are deployed in 18 missions and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is mandated to deploy up to 16,500 police officers.

Bangladesh Police stepped into the UN peacekeeping arena in 1989 by participating in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia. Since then they have been participating in almost every peacekeeping mission undertaken by the United Nations, which will total as many as 18 missions including the 8 ongoing ones. According to the data available in the Bangladesh Police official web site, till 20/04/2010, Bangladesh has sent as many as 6,369 police officers in the Peacekeeping Operations. At this moment as many as 1,599 Bangladeshi police officers are serving in the UN missions.

In 1999 the United Nations introduced specialized police units in their police component. These specially equipped self-sufficient police units are called the Formed Police Units (FPU). Bangladesh police seized the opportunity of sending police officers in bulks to the Peacekeeping Missions at the earliest chance. Today, the maximum number of police officers are working in the FPUs. Bangladeshi FPUs are working in Timor Leste (East Timor), Congo, Ivory Cost and Darfur (Sudan). Very recently, two FPUs are preparing to be deployed in the Caribbean country, Haiti. Of the two FPUs who are waiting to be deployed in Haiti, one will be an all-female. Bangladesh Police will, then, be the second country to contribute with an all-female FPU to the UN peacekeeping mission. Now, the only all-female FPU, deployed in Liberia (UNMIL) in January 2007 is from India.

Officers from Bangladesh Police have already proved their worth by working in various positions in the UN peacekeeping missions. They have been working not only in the field missions as simple observers or executors; but they have also been working in the Peacekeeping Department in the United Nations' Head Quarters. Bangladeshi police officers worked as the Chief of Staff, Chief of Community Policing, Chief of Logistics, Sector Commanders, Team site Leaders, Public Relations Officers, Training Officers, Gender and Child Protection Officers, etc. Bangladeshi police officers are also working in various permanent posts in the UN Head Quarters. Recently, a Bangladeshi police officer is working as the police coordinator of the UN Secretary General in the Afghanistan mission.

Police officers aspiring in joining the UN peacekeeping operations must be properly trained, duly experienced and sufficiently intelligence. According to the United Nations Police Hand Book, they must satisfy the following selection criteria:

Be representative of their national background;

Be competent in the Mission language, both in speaking and in writing;

Have a valid driving license and be capable of driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle;

Be adaptable and comfortable in social environments;

Have the appropriate operational skills required to perform the duties of the appointment for which they are selected, namely training, mentoring, advising, management; etc.;

Be knowledgeable of the overall Mission environment and the parties to the respective conflict; and be capable of conducting analytical investigations into alleged incidents, and of compiling and submitting factual and impartial reports.

A three-member Selection Assistance Team (SAT) is sent to the police contributing countries to select officers for the peacekeeping missions. Among the SAT members, one comes from the UN Police Division, one from the mission area, and the third is one who is familiar with the contributing country's police procedures. The SAT team tests police offices' skills in three practical fields, viz. competency in English Language, efficiency in driving and accuracy in firearms handlings.

The duties and responsibilities of a police officer working in a peacekeeping mission differ in various ways. Very often, they work as observers, monitors, advisors, trainers and co-locators. However, the responsibilities could be listed as followers:

Advising and reporting;

Reforming, reconstructing, restructuring and strengthening the police organizations;

Training, monitoring and skill transferring;

Enforcing laws and executive orders;

Controlling crowd or rioting and giving protection to the VIPs and other unarmed UN peacekeepers;

Ensuring security in General elections/referendums;

Unarming the signatory warring parties and demilitarizing the administration;

Introducing community policing and helping the local police to enhance police-public relations, and

Mass education.

The police officers working in the peacekeeping missions used to put on their national uniforms with UN emblems. They are supplied with a blue beret cap, a metal cap-badge and a piece of cloth with UN monogram to ware in the right arm. They are also supplied with blue helmets and anti-tanks or bullet proof jackets if situations demand.

The UN Peacekeepers are, normally, not provided with regular salaries. They are, in fact, the employees of their respective country. So, they are given some honorariums in daily basis, which is termed as the Mission Subsistence Allowance (MSA). The amount of MSA, with respect to the living cost, hardship and risk factors, varies from mission to mission. However, all the peacekeepers, working in the same mission get the same amount of MSA. In a Formed Police Unit, the total cost is placed to the police contributing country's government. The government distributes it to the FPU members according to rank structure. That is, the Commanding Officer (normally SP) of an FPU gets more money than a police constable does. UN peacekeeping missions are, normally rankles. That is, other than in the FPU, their posting and positions in the missions are not determined according to their rank structures. A junior officer from Bangladesh Police working as a Team Site Leader may have, under him, a dozen of senior officers.

The participation in the UN peacekeeping operations not only enhances the status of Bangladesh in the peace-loving world; it helps the country to boom her foreign currency reserve. The opportunity of participating in the peacekeeping mission makes the police officers individually solvent as well as provides the government with its logistics-renting shares. Since 1989, till 2008, during 17-years of mission participation the police officers from Bangladesh earned equivalent to more than TK 180 crore of foreign currency. A Formed Police Units sends US$ 7,50,000 to the Bangladesh government as the rent of its equipments. Under the UN Convention on Privilege and Immunity of 1946, the UN peacekeepers enjoy special privileges and indemnity while discharging their duties in the mission areas. They are, in fact, the ambassadors of their respective countries.

At the onset of joining the peacekeeping mission, the police officers have to undergo a two-week induction-training course. Through this training they are given first hand ideas on the geography, politics, culture and general history of the mission-country. They are trained on international standard of policing, human rights, women and children protection, community policing, etc. As the peacekeeping operations are carried out in war-torn conflicting localities, the police officers are given training on personal safety, mediation among the warring factions or organized groups, hostage rescue, etc. The trainers are selected from among the best police officers of the police contributing countries. So, the police officers of Bangladesh avail themselves of the opportunity to be trained abroad on national and international policing issues while they are attending the peacekeeping missions.

The very environment of the peacekeeping mission is itself a training ground for the participating police officers. 'UN Mission experience also provides ample opportunity to learn about the diverse culture and values, which will, in turn, widen the vision of our officers, enabling them to apply the best UN practices after they return home'. The UN police officers come from the different countries of the world. Though basic principles of policing are the same across the globe, the ways of discharging the services varies from country to country. A Bangladeshi police officer having a conservative notion on arrest, search and seizure, may compare his belief and procedures to the police officers coming from the United States or Australia. While doing the same job together in the mission area, police officers across the world have the opportunity to share their best practices with one another. Very often police officers working in the peacekeeping missions, attend seminars, symposia, workshops and training programs on various policing related issues. These activities enrich the police officers with advanced professional knowledge. In course of working with foreign colleagues, the Bangladeshi Police officers make friendship with the police officers of other countries. When they come back to the country, their friendship remains alive. They continue to exchange views on contemporary policing issues through Internet with their foreign colleagues. This makes the Bangladeshi Police officers thinking globally.

Table: UN Police Top 10 Contributors- June 2009

Sl No	Country	Number of officers
1	Bangladesh	1,351
2	Jordan	1,175
3	Nigeria	807
4	Nepal	752
5	Pakistan	670
6	India	593
7	Ghana	540
8	Senegal	491
9	Zambia	299
10	Philippines	293

Bangladesh secured the top most position among the police contributing countries in the UN peacekeeping operations. Our police officers are performing excellent national service in the global arena. They are discharging their police duties side by side and together with the police officers of the developed countries. Their service quality is proved to be as good as the quality of any other police departments of the developed countries. The UN has a high demand for our police officers in the peacekeeping missions. But Bangladesh very often fails to meet the UN's demand for the shortage of police personnel in the country because of the low police-public ratio. To keep the law and order situations under control and ensure public safety, according to the UN standard, a country should have one police officer per 400 people. But, in Bangladesh, one police person has to serve more than 1500 people. So, Bangladesh Police finds it difficult to meet the both ends while sending their officers in abroad. It is, therefore, highly recommended that Bangladesh government should recruit more police officers at their earliest possible time.

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