UN Global Focal Point for Police, Justice and Corrections

The United Nations (UN) Global Focal Point on Police, Justice and Corrections (GFP) is the most recent initiative in a decade of efforts to improve the coherence and quality of the UN’s rule of law support to crisis- and conflict-affected countries. Its aim is to provide better police, justice and corrections (PJC) services from UN Headquarters to UN peacekeeping missions, special political missions and non-mission settings. Instead of establishing another institution, task force, coordination group or lead entity, the GFP innovatively focuses on creating more integrated ways of working among two key UN actors, namely the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and with the broader UN system. In this way, the GFP could be considered as a business improvement initiative, in which the two core GFP partners have each convened a portion of their resources to deliver better PJC services together to the field, while keeping the door open for other UN actors to enter their joint venture.

This report presents the results of an independent review of the progress that the GFP initiative has made since January 2012, conducted by a joint research team from the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael), the Stimson Center and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. Based on extensive document research and more than 150 semi-structured interviews, conducted at UN Headquarters and in seven field settings, the report finds that the GFP can claim partial success, holds credible promise as an effective tool for the delivery of PJC assistance to the field, and is in need of significant improvement that will require increased support from senior UN management as well as UN Member States.

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