Mediterranean Programme - [03/06/2008]

Policy reform can also learn from its mistakes

What should the European Union do to promote the reform of police forces in Mediterranean countries? And what sort of reforms should be promoted? These are the two central questions in the report: "Promoting an EU Strategy for Reforming the Security Sector: learning from the experiences of police reform in Turkey and Palestine"; the document was recently published by EuroMeSCo, the Euro-Mediterranean network of research centres focusing on foreign policy and security.

This report, which was executed by the CIDOB Foundation and the TESEV Foundation, begins by focusing on the fact that the European Union still does not possess a reform strategy for the security sector, even though actions have been implemented in this field. In the same way, the report notes that the reform of police forces must be an integral element in this strategy. In the opinion of the report’s authors, EU actions in Turkey and the Palestinian Territories illustrate (in spite of the fact that the two situations are very different) the potentials and weaknesses of European policy in this area.

In Turkey, police reform actions take place within the framework of the process of Turkey’s application for EU membership and, in this context, the issue of the democratic reform of security bodies is a crucial element. The report shows that the EU aid programs (and particularly the ones known as twinnings) have made useful contributions, though the researchers also stress the need to create more channels for collaboration in the spheres of parliament, law and civil society - areas that have not previously been given much consideration in this respect.

The case of the Palestine Territories, in contrast, is a conflict situation, in which security concerns have taken priority over considerations of democracy or respect for human rights. With respect to the Palestine case, the report stresses that the experience of the EUPOL-COPPS mission (within the European Security and Defence Policy, or ESPD) and, in a wider sense, European policy on Palestine, clearly show room for improvement.

In addition to proposing specific measures for improving Europe's involvement in the reform of the police forces of Turkey and the Palestine Territories, the report also proposes wider-ranging ideas, such as how to introduce this issue into the frameworks of the Barcelona Process, the European Neighbourhood Process and the ESPD. The authors point out that with respect to the first of the three frameworks, multilateral cooperation programmes must be strengthened (these being understood to be trust-fostering measures), adding that the issue of police reform should be introduced into the framework of bilateral political dialogue, for example, in the sub-commissions for human rights. Regarding the European Neighbourhood Policy, the report proposes that the framework’s action plans should pay greater attention to the matter of police reform, and that EU incentives (among others) should be strengthened by offering neighbouring countries twinning programmes in the area of policing. Finally, with respect to the ESPD, the authors highlight the need to maintain credibility among the local population, and that the issues of mobilisation, disarmament and reintegration should become intrinsic elements in future missions involving police reform.

>> The complete report