Recommendation.
Instill and promote human rights and the rule of law in the military. It is
imperative that the legitimate coercive instruments of the government respect the
people they have sworn to serve and protect. The military can only be effective if
it gains the support of the people.
Implications.
SSR and counterinsurgency cannot proceed successfully unless values – with
respect to human rights and the rule of law – are instilled within military organizations working among the people.
Event Description.
This lesson is based on the experience of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in
its efforts to re-orient its values and organizational culture to improve security
services being provided to the community. This lesson was developed for U.S.
Army War College PKSOI elective course PS2229 - Security Sector Reform: A
Whole of Government Approach.
e. TOPIC. Security Sector Reform in Timor-Leste ( 854 )
Observation.
In 1999 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1272 granting authority used
for several UN missions over the next decade, each seeking to aid the East
Timor state into independence from Indonesia. Despite conditions appearing
ideal for this transition and the development of security sector reform, the
process instead broke down resulting in a humanitarian crisis requiring additional
international assistance. The primary causes of this failure apply broadly to
similar efforts and should be considered in the planning of future operations.
Even now, the population is faced with many armed groups as well as continued
ripples stemming from the mishandling of the initial transition to independence.
Discussion.
Police
Initial efforts focused on establishing sustainable police forces with the intent to
increase professionalization over time. This meant that recruiting focused on
numbers of recruits rather than the qualification of those recruits. In many cases
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