UNOCI was mandated by United Nations Security Council resolutions resolutions 2000 and 2162 to provide technical support and accompaniment to the Security Sector Reform process (SSR) in Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, UNOCI, through its SSR Division, participates in meetings of the SSR Working Group and provides the group with its expertise on SSR issues by stressing on the need for a holistic approach and on a democratic control of the security sector, notably through parliament. UNOCI supports the Ivorian Government’s efforts to establish a national SSR strategy. With regard to the consolidation of peace, UNOCI contributes to the organization of seminars aimed at strengthening capacity and sharing experiences and supports sensitization activities on SSR aimed at the general population.
Objectives
The security sector is a concept which brings together structures, institutions, and personnel whose mission is to monitor the security situation in a given country. This involves the army, gendarmerie, police etc., government institutions, the judiciary, the customs service. The security sector also includes not only institutions and democratic bodies such as parliament and civil society but also non-state entities such as private security companies and unofficial armed groups.
SSR is a long-term national process of holistic transformation of the security sector of a country in order to render it more efficient by ensuring that the management and functioning of its institutions conform to democratic norms and the rule of law. It is a transformation process which includes all actors with a redefinition of their roles and responsibilities in order to make them compatible with good democratic governance. The objective of SSR is to establish a security environment which enables national cohesion and development. The ultimate aim is to take into account the principles and ideas such as the issue of gender equality, the institutionalization of democratic control, as well as the monitoring and assessment of the security sector.
In Côte d'Ivoire, SSR is aimed at establishing lasting peace in the country. In effect, this means ensuring that security institutions and the judiciary are competent, responsible, efficient, at the service of Ivorian citizens, respect human rights and will in turn be supported by the population who will help them to accomplish their mission. Peace and security for everyone will mean that the country can focus on development. Without peace, there can be no development, without security there can be no peace – that is why SSR is important.
Actions
The mandate of UNOCI's SSR Division is based on resolutions 2000 and 2162, which is defined as follows:
- To support the Government in providing effective, transparent and harmonized coordination of assistance, including the promotion of a clear divisio n of tasks and responsibilities, by international partners to the security sector reform (SSR) process;
- To advise the Government, as appropriate, on SSR and the organization of the future national army, to facilitate the provision of training, within its current resources and as requested by the Government and in close coordination with other international partners, in human rights, child protection and protection from sexual and gender-based violence to the security and law enforcement institutions, as well as capacity-building support by providing technical assistance, co-location and mentoring programmes for the police and gendarmerie and to contribute to restoring their presence throughout Côte d’Ivoire and to promote trust and confidence within and between the security and law enforcement agencies and to offer support to the development of a sustainable vetting mechanism for personnel that will be absorbed into security sector institutions;