CONCEPT NOTE Maiden Conference of the African Union POLICE STRATEGIC SUPPORT GROUP 23 26 September 2014 Small Conference Hall I, New Building, African Union Commission Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1 CONCEPT NOTE INTRODUCTION 1. The African Union (AU) officially launched the Police Strategic Support Group (PSSG) on 24 June 2013 at a ceremony attended by chairpersons of African regional police chiefs organisations, police chiefs from countries contributing to current AU peace support missions, chiefs of police components from regional planning elements, police experts from the AU Commission and other partners. The PSSG is a platform for the African police fraternity to coordinate efforts, communicate, consult and network in order to develop capacity, enhance participation in peace and security decision-making processes and optimise the deployment and employment of existing African police capacity in support of peace, the rule of law, human safety and security in AUmandated peace support missions. The PSSG is modelled on the same concept as the Military Operations Coordinating Committee (MOCC), which was also established to coordinate member state military operations in AU peace support missions. 2. The AU Commission, in partnership with GIZ AU Office (GIZ-AUO), Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Training for Peace (TfP), has organised the maiden PSSG Conference to be held from 23 to 26 September 2014 at the AU Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The conference will be an intensive technical planning session involving police planning experts assisted by facilitators. The AU Commissioner for Peace and Security is expected to preside at this conference. OBJECTIVES OF THE MAIDEN PSSG CONFERENCE 3. Building further on the recommendations of the Independent Panel of Experts for the Assessment of the Africa Standby Force (ASF) and the reports of the 10 th Meeting of the African Chiefs of Defence Staff and Heads of Safety and Security (ACDSHSS) and the 7 th Ordinary Meeting of the Specialised Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security (STCDSS) and the strategic need to operationalize the ASF by 2015, the overarching objective of the conference is to operationalize the PSSG to achieve its strategic objectives. In this regard, the maiden PSSG conference will seek to deliberate and achieve the following results: a. Adopt the draft agenda; b. Adopt a vision, mission, set of values, code of conduct, corporate identity, ethics guidelines and role and key tasks of the AU police in peace and security including peace support operations; c. Make gender mainstreaming in police peace support operations in line with AU Gender Policy d. Make recommendations for full and active participation of African police chiefs in peace and security decision-making processes including the African Peace and Security Architecture;
2 e. Endorse the draft standardised generic table of equipment and generic financial budget for individual police experts and formed police units in all AU and regional peace support missions, f. Develop innovative strategies to mobilise the required major and minor equipment for formed police unit (FPU) operations in AU peace support operations; g. Endorse the draft standard operating procedures for selection assessment and assistance for individual police officers deployed to peace support mission mandated by the Peace and Security Council of the AU or by regional mechanisms; h. Endorse the draft standard operating procedures for the assessment of the operational capability of FPUs and contingent owned equipment; i. Endorse the draft policy guidelines for individual police officers deployed for service with AU peace support missions; j. Endorse the draft policy guidelines for FPUs deployed for service with AU peace support missions; k. Endorse the draft standard operating procedures for the recruitment of senior police professional level personnel; l. Make recommendations for the standardisation and harmonisation of police officer ranks in AU peace support operations; m. Make recommendations for the standardisation of peace support operations training curricula for all African police organisations; n. Make recommendations on additional innovative measures African member states can take to support African police organisations in distress, over and above contributing police personnel for peace support missions; o. Report and evaluate the maiden PSSG conference; and p. Set a date and venue for the next PSSG conference. 4. During the period 10 to 11 February 2014, African police chiefs adopted a declaration in Algiers (the Algiers Declaration ) to establish the African Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL). The AFRIPOL concept was endorsed by the 23 rd Ordinary Summit of the AU in Malabo in June 2014. An ad hoc committee for AFRIPOL has since been set up to work on the legal and administrative modalities required to formally launch the establishment of AFRIPOL. Under the Algiers Declaration the key objectives of AFRIPOL are to: a. Initiate, harmonise and strengthen African legal instruments for the fight against transnational crime and terrorism and to promote tools for their implementation; b. Harmonise police methods; exchange and extend best practices in terms of training, prevention and investigation techniques and strengthen African police capabilities in this regard; and c. Increase coordination and cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization-Interpol, the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and other relevant organisations.
3 5. The PSSG conference will also assist the AFRIPOL to develop plans and other instruments to facilitate its establishment and operationalisation. In this regard, the maiden PSSG conference will work together with the AFRIPOL Ad Hoc Steering Committee, to deliberate and achieve the following results for AFRIPOL: a. Optimum structure, b. A three-year operational plan, c. A budget, d. A strategy, and e. Legal instruments. EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THE PSSG MAIDEN CONFERENCE 6. The main expectation will be the AU Commission chairperson and other relevant organs of the AU's approval to address the following: a. The identified major structural and proximate causes of the challenges that are weighing down police development in the AU Commission, peace support missions and regional mechanisms; and b. The continental vacuum in dealing with serious organised transnational crimes (resulting in the plundering of Africa s natural resources, money laundering, human trafficking especially of women and children, smuggling and externalisation, narcotics and small and light weapons trafficking) that contribute to Africa not meeting the Millennium Development Goals and that foment instability and transnational threats. EXPECTED IMPACTS OF THE PSSG MAIDEN CONFERENCE 7. From a peace supporting perspective, the following impacts are expected: a. Full participation of African police fraternity, including police chiefs, in all key peace and security decision-making processes and peace support operations, as well as their formalisation as an integral component of the African Peace and Security Architecture; b. Clear vision, mission, values, ethics, code of conduct, corporate identity and key tasks of AU police; c. Enhanced police structures leading to greater capacity, efficiency, visibility and impact of the AU police at the continental, regional and peace support mission levels, as well as pledged police standby capabilities; d. Selection of qualified police personnel for deployment to peace support missions, and especially the training/empowering and recruitment of women police officers; e. Effective and efficient management of police components in peace support missions through the implementation of appropriate police policies, SOPs and guidelines; f. Effective utilisation of all available African police expertise to support peace and security and develop capacities for peace support missions; g. Enhanced rule of law and security, human safety and security and the upholding of human rights in all peace support missions; and
4 h. The fast tracking of AFRIPOL s establishment and operationalisation, leading to greater capacity to account for perpetrators of organised transnational crime through enhanced coordination and cooperation between Africa, Interpol and other international law enforcement organisations. PARTICIPANTS 8. About 80 participants are expected to attend the PSSG Maiden conference and they are: a. Nine police planning experts from the Economic Community of West African States, the Economic Community of Central African States, NARC, the Eastern African Standby Force Coordination Mechanism and Southern African Development Community police planning elements; b. Ten police planning experts from AU police contributing countries to current missions; c. Eight police experts from the Interpol Africa sub regional bureaus (CAPCCO-Yaoundé, EAPCCO-Nairobi, SARPCCO-Harare and WAPCCO-Abidjan); d. Six former African police commissioners in AU or United Nations peace support missions as facilitators and resource experts; e. Four members of the AFRIPOL ad hoc committee; f. Ten Peace Support Operations Division staff; g. Two Defence and Security Division staff working on AFRIPOL; h. One legal officer from the Office of Legal Counsel; i. Twenty partners from the GIZ AU police project, the ISS/TfP, TfP partners (NUPI, ACCORD, POD and EAFSCOM s new POD Advisor), the UN Office to the African Union, the UN police division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the European Union Delegation to the AU and the African Peace Support Trainers' Association; and j. Rapporteurs provided by the ISS and GIZ AU police project. ORDER OF BUSINESS OF THE PSSG MAIDEN CONFERENCE 9. The order of business of the conference will be as follows: a. All the police planning experts, facilitators and partners are expected to participate actively in all the breakout groups and plenary sessions from Day 1 to Day 4. b. Designated persons assisted by facilitators will lead plenary presentations and discussions. c. Facilitators will lead breakout group discussions. d. Group work presentations and discussions in plenary sessions will be led by group spokespeople and assisted by facilitators. e. All participants are requested to work through all the agenda items in order to prepare for productive discussions and contributions. f. Working group participants will be expected to carry out specific follow-on actions to in order to fulfil the decisions and recommendations of the PSSG Maiden Conference.