IRLS 417 Final Essay Creative Writing Case Study Paper

Effectiveness of International Civilian Police
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Effectiveness of International Civilian Police
Introduction
The military police and the civilian police have both played a significant role in peacekeeping and the establishment of law and order in international jurisdictions through the operations endorsed by the United Nations (UN). It is, however, the International Civilian Police (CIVPOL) who have been extremely vital in the peacekeeping missions, tasked with the role of monitoring, supervising, training the local law enforcement agencies, and sometimes taking part in the actual law enforcement. Tradiditionaly, the CIVPOL mandates have always revolved around training, monitoring, and organizing local law enforcement but have evolved due to the changing nature of operations. The UN has called upon the CIVPOL in several peacekeeping missions around the globe. Although the missions often take different approaches, meaningful conclusions on the effectiveness of the CIVPOL in discharging their mandates at different levels can be deduced.
Haiti, a country dominated by corruption, exploitation, violence, and fragile government, has had a long history with the international community, especially the United Nations, through series of peacekeeping missions that ended as recent as 2017 (Moreira, 2019). Every UN mission in Haiti had a specific role and mandate but the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) clearly depicts the role of the international civilian police, and through it, their effectiveness can be adequately evaluated (Moreira, 2019). Being the longest ever UN undertaking in Haiti (2004 - 2017), there is quite a lot to learn from the mission that was composed of military personnel, international civilian police, and a few civilian individuals working for the UN (Moreira, 2019). The armed conflict that led to the exile of the then Haitian president convinced the UN Security Council that the conflict was a threat to international peace and security. The conflict led to the displacement of a large number of civilians to the neighboring Caribbean countries (Moreira, 2019).
The duties and responsibilities of the CIVPOL in MINUSTAH vary when analyzed based on three levels: micro, meso, and macro. The micro and macro levels represent the individual and the national or international levels respectively. The meso level, which is the broadest of all levels, considers the organizations, institutions, and communities that lay in between the individuals and the state (Roberts, 2020). This paper makes use of the three levels of analysis to point out the effectiveness of the international civilian police, specifically in the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission of 2004 to 2017. Nevertheless, the three levels are interrelated, and the strategies overlap from one level to another.
At the Micro-Level
The UN-mandated the MINUSTAH mission operatives with the responsibility of preventing the violation of human rights, particularly those against the Haitian civilian citizens. Also, the mission sought to protect children and women from armed conflicts. Widespread kidnapping and killing of innocent civilians was also a menace the UN had mandated the mission to overcome. Most neighborhoods had been controlled by gangs that terrorized the civilians, especially in Port-au-Prince. In order for the mission to respond to the above individual responsibilities, the operatives were tasked with the promotion of human rights in collaboration with the office of the High Commissioner as well as overseeing the returning of refugees to their home country as a means of ending the impunity (Heine & Thompson, 2011). The security council also authorized the civilian police and the military personnel with the protection of vulnerable civilians in conjunction with the host country’s police department.
Haiti is a difficult nation to fix, but the UN mission has been credited for the improved civilian security throughout the 13 years of the mission in the country. The neighborhoods that were once controlled by the gangs have been restored to the Haiti National Police, thanks to the intervention of the MINUSTAH mission (Heine & Thompson, 2011). The UN civilian police together with the military personnel have trained and guided over 14000 Haitian police offers, adequate and well furnished to keep the gangs terrorizing the civilians at bay. The improved status of civilian security in Haiti is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of the international civilian police in ensuring stability and carrying out their mandate at the individual level.
At the Meso Level
The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti was also mandated to address the mess at the organizational level through numerous resolutions. Other than the training and support of the local police, there was an urgent need to fix and restore the rule of law, with much emphasis on democracy (Moreira, 2019). The democratic mandate was a collaborative effort, and the UN peacekeeping personnel were tasked with welcoming and protecting the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) among other international communities to promote economic, social, and political developments. Also, the mission was responsible for the sensitization of the public towards the prevention and control of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDs. Resolution 1542 of the Security Council mandated the mission with the support and strengthening of the constitutional and political processes. It further tasked the mission with helping the Haiti National Police with the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Program (DDR) to ...